SAINT-DENIS, France — Rai Benjamin’s 400-meter hurdles race was going great until, about 70 percent of the way through it, something appeared before him. Oh, right, he realized. A hurdle.
“I was just so focused on running fast, and those hurdles kind of get in my way,” he said, offering an elegant description of the challenge of the event. “It’s kind of annoying, because you want to go, but you can’t go, because these bears are in your way. So I think I got lost there trying to sprint, and forgot, like, O.K., I need to actually hurdle this thing correctly.”
