10 August 2012
 
Day Eight Evening Session
 
Men’s Pole Vault Final

Steve Lewis (coach: Dan Pfaff) came close to breaking his British record in the men’s pole vault final, clearing 5.75m at the second attempt and narrowly failing at 5.85m, as he finished in equal fifth position in the pole vault final. France’s Renaud Lavillenie went on to take victory with an Olympic record of 5.97m.

Lewis said: “I was so pleased to make it to the finals. The conditions were perfect – although I’ve got mixed emotions about the results. I’m proud to be British and to be part of this Olympics – it was an amazing opportunity."

 
Women’s 4x400m Relay

 Great Britain’s quartet of Shana Cox (Lloyd Cowan), Lee McConnell (Rodger Harkins), Eilidh Child (Malcolm Arnold) and Christine Ohuruogu (Lloyd Cowan) qualified automatically for Saturday’s 4X400m final with a third place finish in their heat in a time of 3:25.05.

McConnell hinted afterwards of the optimism within the team of snatching a medal in tomorrow’s final.
        
"We always knew that the USA, Jamaica and Russia were very strong, but if we can slip in there and do our best, we’ll be in there fighting. Four by four can always be very messy and a little bit unpredictable. Who knows, if we run a good race we can hopefully take our chance."
 

Women’s Hammer Throw Final

Sophie Hitchon (Derek Evely) could not quite match her heroics from the qualification round in this evening’s hammer final, but comes away satisfied from her first OIympic Games after a 69.33m throw saw her finish in 12th place.

The 21-year-old said: "All the girls threw amazingly well and it was such a high standard, which I knew going into it, it would be. For me just to get to that final was a massive achievement. That was the plan and to go for it. The throws felt good and it was unlucky that I didn’t catch one in the qualification round.

"It’s amazing to be here and everyone was roaring. Just to be there in that final, I don’t think many people thought I’d make it. I did, and it was just great to be there."

 
Men’s 4x100m Relay

Britain’s sprint kings were forced to look to the future after a fast relay race ended in disappointment with disqualiication following a failure to exchange the baton in time at the final changeover.

Quartet Christian Malcolm (Dan Pfaff), Dwain Chambers (Daniel Plummer), Danny Talbot (Daniel Cossins) and Adam Gemili (Michael Afilaki) finished second in their heat and ran the fastest relay by a British team in five years – 37.93secs – but with Talbot and Gemili’s final exchange ending outside the designated area, disqualification ensued. 

Malcolm, a veteran of four Olympics, urged people to look at the positives, however.

"We haven’t run that quick since 2007, and we have two exceptional youngsters on the team who did a fantastic job today. It’s unfortunate, you know. Adam didn’t go off early – he went on the check mark, but whatever you do in training, you can’t recreate what happens when you get in that arena.

"It was unfortunate that Danny couldn’t catch him, but if you look on the camera on individual legs I think the guys ran exceptionally well today and to run a 37.9 was fantastic. They are the future now  – if  these guys can be in a team and run a 37.9 at that age then it all bodes well for the future."

 
Women’s 5,000m Final

Jo Pavey (Gavin Pavey) and Julia Bleasdale (Nic Bideau) put on a strong display and finished as the first Europeans in the women’s 5,000m final, finishing seventh and eigth respectively.

Pavey, who also finished seventh in the 10,000m final last Friday, was suitably happy with her results at her home Games, finishing today’s race in 15:12.72.

"I’ve got to be pleased to be honest. The Ethiopians and Kenyans are awesome and we’re trying to compete with them, I’ve got to be pleased. We’ve got to be proud of ourselves, two top eight finishes in a tough event and just having another opportunity to compete in front of that home crowd, it was awesome."

Bleasdale – who also mirrored her finishing spot from last week’s 10,000m final  – was pleased with her Games but predicts more to come in future.

"I came to the Games saying I just wanted to be competitive with the best in the world and I think I’ve done that. But over the next year I really want to take it to the next level. I would have liked to have had a little bit more at the end today but I’ve got to be pleased. I think when I look back I will be pleased, but I’ve just got to find that next gear so when the Africans push on, I can hang in there."

Women’s 1,500m Final

 In a particularly slow 1,500m final, Britain’s Lisa Dobriskey (self-coached) and Laura Weightman (Steve Cram) were unable to keep up with a final-lap sprint, eventually finishing in 10th and 11th place respectively.

Dobriskey, regarded as an outside medal hope before the race, was disappointed with how her race developed, finishing in 4:13.02.

"It was so slow for so long and when the fall happened the girls got a couple of strides and that was it, game over, I was never going to make that up. I felt good within myself and really strong but I didn’t have the tools I needed when I was at the back at the end. I needed to be right on it and I wasn’t."

Weightman finished in 4:15.60, and having already exceeded expectations by making the final, was pleased with how her first Games turned out.

"To make the final and come 11th, I can’t be too disheartened with that. It’s my first championship with three rounds and I think today that was my best performance. I just found I was lacking that little bit of a change of pace when the girls took off at 600 to go. "

 
Men’s 4x400m Relay Final

 Great Britain’s  men came within a metre of a bronze medal in this evening’s 4X400m final, narrowly losing out on third place to Trinidad & Tobago.

Britain’s foursome of Conrad Williams (Linford Christie), Jack Green (Malcolm Arnold), Dai Greene (Malcolm Arnold) and Martyn Rooney (Nick Dakin) ran a fast 2:59.53, but despite a stand-out final leg of 44.1secs by Rooney, were unable to secure a podium spot.

Williams said: "We went out there all guns blazing. I can’t fault these guys, we tried everything, we pushed and we dug in and it was just 0.1 that separates us and the Trinidad guys.  The crowd were amazing – they did their job. We let them down by 0.1. Maybe next time."

Rooney was understandably disappointed to have come so close to a first Olympic medal.

"We didn’t get a medal. For the guys I am gutted. I genuinely thought I was going to catch the guy and I’m disappointed as they set me up really well. We came here and had a good go. I don’t’ think there’s anyone in the team who didn’t run 110 percent, all those clichés that you hear, we did it, we went through it."

You can follow the action in various ways:

BBC 1, BBC 3, BBC Olympic Channels 1 – 24
BBC 5Live
BBC Online
@UKA_athletics
IAAF timetable /results service
UKA website
 
Team GB Live app