LONDON, Aug. 17, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- From the first day of the track and field competition—when athletes posted 12 national bests and 52 personal bests—the state-of-the-art Mondotrack track surface at London's Olympic Stadium helped the world's greatest track and field athletes perform their best. When the Games were over, three world records*, four Olympic records, 64 national records, and a slew of personal and season bests had been set on the track.
"These amazing results and the comments we heard throughout the Games about Mondotrack being 'super fast' and a 'magic carpet' are extremely gratifying," Federico Stroppiana, CEO, Mondo Group. "Our efforts to develop tracks that are both soft and fast result in surfaces that provide the optimum blend of comfort and speed, making the tracks ideal for both training and high-speed competition and resulting in record-breaking athletic performances."
Topping the list of London 2012 track and field highlights on Mondotrack was Usain Bolt becoming the first man in Olympic history to win the 100- and 200-meter races and the men's 4x100-meter relay in two consecutive Games. The Jamaican's gold medal performances at the 2008 Beijing Olympics also were on Mondotrack.
The Games also produced the fastest 100-meter race of all time, with seven of the eight participants in the final crossing the line in less than 10 seconds. (The eighth, Jamaica's Asafa Powell, was slowed because of an injury.) That race also saw four of the seven competitors establish or equal personal or season bests.
The three world records established during the Games on Mondotrack were:
- Bolt, along with Jamaican teammates Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and Yohan Blake, captured gold in the men's 4x100-meter relay and established a new world record with a time of 36.84 seconds, 0.02 seconds faster than the previous record.
- Kenya's David Rudisha set a new world record for the men's 800 meters. In running 1:40.91 to break his own world record (which was set on Mondo's Super X Performance track), Rudisha became the first man to run 800 meters in less than 1:41.
- The United States' Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter ran the women's 4x100-meter relay in spectacular fashion, finishing in 40.82 seconds and taking 0.55 seconds off the record that was set in 1985 by East Germany.
The four new Olympic records set during the Games on Mondotrack were:
- Bolt posted an Olympic record in the men's 100-meter final with a time of 9.63 seconds.
- Australia's Sally Pearson established a new Olympic record in the women's 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.35 seconds.
- France's Renaud Lavillenie broke the men's Olympic pole vault record by clearing 5.97 meters. (The stadium's pole vault runway also is Mondotrack.)
- Tatyana Lysenko of Russia established a new Olympic mark in the hammer throw with a distance of 78.18 meters. (The hammer throw area also is Mondotrack.)
Track and field Olympians also posted numerous national records, personal bests and season bests on Mondotrack, including:
- In the men's 800 meters, in addition to Rudisha setting a world record, each of his competitors established either a new national record, personal best or season best.
- Great Britain's Jessica Ennis ran the fastest 100-meter heptathlon hurdles in history, equaling the winning time of the women's 100-meter hurdles at Beijing and setting a new British record. Including Ennis, 23 of the 38 women who participated in the heptathlon hurdles set or equaled personal or season bests in the event.
- In the first heat of the women's 100 meters, 15 competitors set or tied national records, personal bests or season bests, and seven women ran 11 seconds or faster.
- In the first heat of the men's 100 meters, 13 competitors set or tied national records, personal bests or season bests.
- In the men's 4x100-meter relay, the United States' Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Ryan Bailey and Tyson Gay set a new American record.
- In qualifying for the hammer throw, Great Britain's Sophie Hitchon recorded a new national record.
- In the women's 4x100-meter relay, Jamaica and Ukraine—which finished second and third—set new national records.
- In the women's 100-meter final, the United States' Tianna Madison and Allyson Felix ran personal bests, while teammate Carmelita Jeter and Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown ran season bests.
- In the men's 4x400-meter relay final, the team from the Bahamas won gold with a new national record time; the squad from Trinidad and Tobago also established a new national mark, and teams from the U.S., Great Britain and South Africa posted season bests.
- In a semifinal heat of the women's 100-meter hurdles, five of the eight competitors set a national record, or ran a personal or season best.
- In the women's 200-meter competition, Jamaicans Veronica Campbell-Brown and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ran season bests in the semifinal and final, respectively. Fraser-Pryce's mark earned her the silver medal.
- Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic won gold in the women's javelin with a season-best throw of 69.55 meters. Bronze medalist Linda Stahl of Germany also recorded a season best in the event.
Mondotrack is the newest track surface by Mondo, the global leader in the sport flooring market. Mondotrack builds on the success of the company's world-renowned Super X Performance track, which was the world's top track for more than 30 years and was an official track of eight Olympic Games through 2004. Designed for superior athletic performance, Mondotrack provides optimal traction and a greater contact area than other tracks. It converts the maximum amount of force generated by athletes' foot strikes to energy for maximum energy return, which helps athletes achieve faster times compared to running on other surfaces
More than 230 world records have been set on tracks made by Mondo, including five at the 2008 Olympics and three at these London Games.
About Mondo
Mondo is the global leader in the track and field, indoor sport and contract flooring markets, manufacturing rubber flooring surfaces for virtually every application. More than 1,100 Mondo tracks and 800 Mondo artificial turf fields are installed worldwide. An official supplier of athletic tracks for the 2012 London Olympics and the previous nine Olympic Games, Mondo also is the official supplier or official sponsor of more than 100 sports federations and associations.
The company supplies a wide variety of commercial rubber flooring and manufactures luxury yachts under its Mondo Marine division.
A family-owned business since its founding in 1948, Mondo sells its products in more than 196 countries. The company's global headquarters are in Italy, and it has manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and Asia. For news updates, the latest on Mondo products and events, and the company's latest sport flooring installations, visit mondoworldwide.com and like Mondo America's Facebook page and the Mondotrack Facebook page.
The Mondo logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=5765
* All world records are subject to ratification procedures.
Mondo and Mondotrack are registered trademarks of Mondo.