400 sweep is as easy as 1-2-3

BEIJING - I'm your good news guy.

Yeah, both 4 x 100-meter relay teams messed up beyond all belief, and, yeah, Allyson Felix only took the silver and not the expected gold in the 200, and, yeah, the women's water polo team lost by a goal to the Netherlands, and, yeah, the softball team lost to Iron Lady Ueno and the Japanese squad.

But the US took second and third in the 110-meter high hurdles, and that was pretty good since everyone knew Dayron Robles was going to win. Meanwhile, Bryan Clay was lookin' good in the decathlon.

Now we get to the really good part of an otherwise shaky evening in Beijing for the good ol' US of A: We kicked some serious butt in the 400. This was the way it used to be, the way Americans still think it's supposed to be. This was the way it was when we liked Ike. This was the way it was when I grew up. America goes 1-2-3 in the 400. Yeah, baby.

The 400 is one of our races. Throw out the non-American 1980 Olympics in Moscow. I'll even throw out the tainted 1984 Olympics in LA, even though, for the sake of this particular discussion, I don't have to. The fact is that of the remaining 24 Olympic 400-meter runs, an American had won 18 of them, including the previous five. The only non-American to win a fully competitive 400 in the last 56 years was the great Cuban Alberto Juantorena in 1976.

That dominance remained intact at the Bird's Nest last night when LaShawn Merritt, Jeremy Wariner, and David Neville came home 1-2-3.

For most experts, the only question before the race was whether the victor would be Wariner, the defending champion and holder of the third-fastest time in history (43.45), or Merritt, who had twice beaten Wariner this year, and who was supremely confident that Wariner would not be a repeat champion. It turned out to be no contest, as Merritt flashed home in a personal-best time of 43.75 seconds. A clearly disappointed and almost belligerent Wariner was second, while the eminently likable David Neville came in third the hard way - nose first.

Merritt's emergence as the Next Great Thing in the quarter-mile world has not gone down well with Wariner. They aren't particularly fond of each other, and so that added some extra juice to this matchup. Wariner first blew through the infamous Mixed Zone following the race, but later he was led out to enlighten the press by a PR aide, and he really didn't have much by way of an explanation for his inability to defend his title.

"I felt pretty good after the first 200, but coming off the turn I just didn't have it," he said.

Pressed further, he said, "It happens every year. It's a long season. I started in February and now it's August. The body can only take so much."

Presumably, Merritt began in February and now finds himself in August, as well. Whatever.

Merritt made it all sound very logical. "I said I was going to get the job done," he declared. "I had a game plan, and I stuck to it."

The Portsmouth, Va., product said he had done some thorough self-examination upon arriving in Beijing. "I realized I needed to get the most out of what I have," he explained. "I'm 6-3. I saw some people take fewer strides than me, even though I was 6-3. What was going on? I realized I needed to use what I have. I've got long legs, and I've got power."

The way he saw it, he was having a good year, and no one had a better chance to win the 400 than he did. "These are the Olympics," he said. "I needed to bring my A game. I've been waiting for this race for four years. I wasn't going to let anything distract me. When it got down to the final eight, the person who wanted it the most was going to get to the finish line first."

The 400 is an honorable race. This is, in fact, the "Chariots of Fire" race, even though 90 percent of the stuff in that entertaining movie was fabricated. The one thing that was accurate was that the winner of the 1924 race in Paris was Eric Liddell, and he was a virtuous fellow. I would think that Eric Liddell would have thought very highly of the bronze medal winner in this particular race. For what David Neville did to get his bronze medal was right out of "Chariots of Fire."

As he came pounding toward the finish line, Neville knew it was going to be very, very close for him to take third. So his last official act was to propel himself forward. David Neville crossed the finish line with a splat, diving his way to a bronze by .04 over Christopher Brown of the Bahamas.

Bravo!

"I did what had to be done for my medal," Neville explained. "I had to make a last-ditch effort."

The startled workers didn't know what to make of it all. As soon as the attendants saw Neville sprawled on the track, they rushed to his side with a stretcher and tried to drag him onto it.

"No, I wasn't going to get onto that stretcher," he said. "I was all right. I was in some pain, but you have to take it all in."

Merritt was average Olympic happy. Wariner was a grump who could hardly force a smile on the medal podium. But you've never seen a happier medal-winner than David Neville, who had run his heart out. When he realized the totality of the situation, he knew that if he really, truly, wanted that bronze medal he would have to sacrifice his body a little.

"I kept my eye on the prize, and that's why I have this bronze medal around my neck right now," he said.

There's an American we can all be proud of.

Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at ryan@globe.com.