'Big dreamer' Naser rockets into athletics limelight

Salwa Eid Naser says she "dreams big" eyeing the 400 metres world record but her astonishing winning time of 48.14sec at the World Championships rekindled memories of an era three decades ago dominated by Communist eastern Europe.

The engaging 21-year-old -- born Ebelechukwu Agbapuonwu in Nigeria to a Nigerian mother and Bahraini father -- pulled off a shock defeat of reigning Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo on Thursday, who had not lost a race since August 2017.

However, it was the time -- the third fastest of all time -- that took many people's breath away.

Only those over 40 would recall watching the two women who have run faster than her, world record holder Marita Koch of what was then East Germany, who recorded 47.60sec in 1985, and the former Czechoslovakia's Jarmila Kratochvilova (47.99sec in 1983).

Theirs was an era when the Cold War was ongoing and the Berlin Wall separated East and West Berlin.

Neither Koch nor Kratochvilova failed a doping test but their countries are known to have operated state-sponsored programmes as athletic supremacy was viewed by their rulers as a weapon in the battle between east and west.

Naser, who switched to Bahrain aged 16, played coy as to whether she considered her time in Doha the fastest clean one in history.

"You tell me," she replied.

Miller-Uibo -- who herself ran the sixth fastest time ever in the final only to have to settle for silver -- believes the world record will fall in the event she considers "her baby".

But when asked if she believed Naser's time was the fastest untainted run ever, the Bahamian also refused to be drawn on the past.

"I would prefer not to comment," she replied.

Naser's victory -- which also saw three other finalists record personal bests -- may have shocked many but her championship record in the past two years suggested she was a genuine title contender.

- 'I cried all night' -
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"I was really looking up to her and I still look up to her, she's an amazing athlete."
"I recall I had bought an ice cream but I had forgotten my change and as I ran across the road to retrieve it, that's when the car hit me."