Sport

Ramzi beats Kiprop for metric mile gold

— PHOTO: AFP

BREAKING THROUGH: Christine Ohuruogu came up trumps in the women’s 400m to clinch Britain’s first athletics gold medal in the Beijing Games.

BEIJING: : Former world champion Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain stole the thunder by proving too hot for the Kenyans, in sprinting to the 1500m gold with a time of 3 minutes 32.94 seconds on an eventful night at the Bird’s Nest here on Tuesday.

In the absence of world champion Bernard Lagat of the US who had failed to make the cut, the tall Asbel Kipruto Kiprop of Kenya called the shots initially as he led from the front. He was poised to make a strong finish when Ramzi made his move and the Bahrainian of Moroccan origin finished strongly to keep the Kenyans away.

Kiprop held on for the silver while Nicholas Willis of New Zealand came up with a good finish for the bronze at 3:34.16. Abdalaati Iguider of Morocco finished sixth at 3:34.66.

“The gold medal is a great honour to Bahrain and the Arab world. It is not easy for an Arab to win a gold medal,” said Ramzi, who was the double world champion in the 800m and the 1500m at the Helsinki World championships in 2005.

“I saw him coming in front of me and I had a plan of maybe kicking him in the last 200. But I couldn’t. He is a great man. Losing to Ramzi is not a big deal,” said Kiprop.

World champion Christine Ohuruogu outclassed favourite Sanya Richards of the US, in taking the women’s 400m gold with a season’s best 49.62. The coup de grace was complete when Richards, who looked to have exhausted herself while entering the final straight after a brilliant run till then, was passed in the end by Jamaican Shericka Williams for the silver with a personal best of 49.69.

“I am just so proud of myself. I just ran across the line, thinking, ‘I won’. I may not have had a good season, but like at the World championships, that’s what I train all year for,” said Ohuruogu.

“This is so devastating for me. The gold would have been mine if it weren’t for a hamstring grab. I was in control for half of the race. By the 320 metre mark, I felt my right hamstring. I pulled my leg through and it got tighter and tighter,” said a disheartened Richards.

Dawn Harper of the US pulled through for the women’s 100m hurdles gold with a personal best of 12.54, leaving Sally McLellan of Australia and Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada to celebrate a joint-silver following a dead heat at 12.64 seconds.

Damu Cherry of the US who had stayed away from competitions in preparations of the Games missed out on a medal at 12.65. Favourite Lolo Jones, who won the US trials apart from a string of titles clocking the season’s fastest time of 12.45, was seventh with a 12.72.

Gerd Kanter of Estonia clinched the men’s discus throw gold with his fourth throw of 68.82 metres, while Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania, aiming for his third successive Olympic gold, finished with the bronze with a 67.79, three centimetres behind Piotr Malachowski of Poland.

“It is the top of my career. The experience is so great, I can’t believe it. I lost one of my best throws, because there were some delays. It was during the women’s 400m final and I had to take a break. I lost my concentration,” said Kanter, about not having registered a better throw.

The first gold medal of the evening went to Andrey Silnov of Russia in the high jump, as he cleared 2.36 metres, to win the gold, a mere two centimetres ahead of Germaine Mason of Britain and Yaroslav Rybakov of Russia. When the bar was raised to 2.42 for a possible Olympic record, the 23-year-old Silnov failed in all his three attempts. Favourite and defending champion Stefan Holm of Sweden (2.32m) was fourth.

“This is great moment in my life. I want to say, Olympics, I love you. I had trained very hard. It felt easy,” said Silnov, who cleared every height on his first jump.

As Silnov was running the victory lap, his compatriot Yelena Isinbayeva was being presented the medal for her pole vault victory on Monday night. It was a sight to see Isinbayeva in a flood of tears as she was overtaken by emotion on the podium.

Rybakov had to settle for the bronze on the countback as he took three jumps to clear 2.32 as against the first clearance by Mason.

The fastest man on the planet, Usain Bolt of Jamaica, beat defending champion Shawn Crawford of US by 0.03 seconds with a lunge at the finish in the 200m semifinal at 20.09. Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles won the other semifinal with a 20.11.

Bolt looked set to have a crack at Michael Johnson’s world record of 19.32 secs.

With Liu Xiang out of the fray, and the spotlight firmly on him, world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba eased home in the second heats with a 13.19 in the second round of the 110m hurdles.

David Oliver of the US had the fastest time among the qualifiers when he won the fourth heats with a 13.16.

“It is a shame what happened to Liu Xiang. I feel bad for him. I would have liked to race against him,” said Robles.

In the men’s 400 metres, favourite Jeremy Wariner (44.15) of the US qualified in the second spot for the final, behind compatriot LaShawn Merritt (44.12).

“A lot of people really doubt my chances with the way LaShawn is running, but I never doubt myself. It is a fast track. With competition you never know,” said Wariner, about a possible world record in the final.

World record holder Tirunesh Dibaba, already the 10,000 metres gold medallist, cruised to win his 5000m semifinals with a 15:09.89.

In the women’s 200m second round, the favourites Veronica Campbell-Brown (22.64) of Jamaica and Allyson Felix (22.74) of the US, were happy to finish 1-2 in the first heat and figure third and fourth among the 16 qualifiers for the semifinals.

Sherone Simpson of Jamaica topped the list at 22.60. Susanthika Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka, the bronze medallist of the last world championship, qualified third in her heat with a 22.94.

In women’s javelin, world champion Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republc topped the qualifiers with a distance of 67.69 metres. The other top throwers, Christina Obergfoll (67.52) and Steffi Nerius (63.94) of Germany along with Maria Abakumova (63.48) of Russia, followed the Czech closely.

World and Olympic record holder, Osleidys Meneez of Cuba, battling a number of injuries this season, pulled through to the final with an effort of 60.51 that placed her 11th among the 12 qualifiers.

The local flavour was provided by Zhang Li who made it with a 61.77.

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