6 August 2012

Day Four Morning Session

Women’s 100m Hurdles Heats  

Tiffany Porter (coach: James Henry) enjoyed a comfortable first heat to ensure her place in Tuesday’s semi-finals. 12.79 and a third place finish was enough to seal her passage.

“I was very comfortable,” she said. “The objective here was just to come out, execute and make the next round and I am very happy that I did that today.

“I’ve been very anxious and very nervous so I am just very happy that the first one is out of the way.

“I’m fine and I’m very confident for the remainder of the competition. I’ll go back now and look at it with my coach but I am very confident that I can go out there and do my very best.”

Men’s 800m Heats

Andrew Osagie’s (Craig Winrow) third place in heat two ensured automatic qualification to tomorrow’s semi-final. He recorded a time of 1:46.42.

"The heats are always nervous," admitted Osagie. "I’m renowned for being rubbish in the morning so to get that done and get automatic qualifying means I can switch off now, relax and come back tomorrow night and run well."

Gareth Warburton (Darrell Maynard) will not be participating in the next round after finishing fifth in 1:46.97. The time was not enough to earn a fastest qualifying spot. It was the same story for Michael Rimmer (Norman Poole) in heat five – fifth with 1:49.05.

Men’s Discus Qualification

Brett Morse (Vesteinn Hafsteinsson) failed to throw his way into the discus final. A best of 58.18m was below the qualification standard.

“Very disappointing really,” reflected Morse. “On the first round I walked in and round up and the crowd went mental so I was a little nervous on that throw but on rounds two and three I felt good so I should have thrown further. I’m so disappointed so frustrated in myself."

Lawrence Okoye’s (John Hillier) last throw of 65.28m sealed his place in the Olympic final.

"It was unbelievable it was really tough," said Okoye. "Standards this year are much higher than they’ve ever been. 63.55m to get through is much higher than it’s ever been, the average is 62.38m. So it took a lot to get through."

Abdul Buhari (Mark Wiseman) will not be in the final after his best throw of 60.08m  was not enough to seal a place in the top 12.

Women’s 1500m Heats

Hannah England (Bud Baldaro), Lisa Dobriskey (Ricky Soos) and Laura Weightman (Steve Cram) all progressed into the semi-finals.

Dobriskey won heat two in 4:13.32, while England finished 5th in heat one and Weightman 6th in heat three – the top six from each qualifying.

England said: "Really really pleased. I felt like myself, I felt like I had presence in the race. I felt like that last year in Daegu, I felt like I belonged and it’s nice to feel like that again after the time I had out.

"I felt good I got out fast which I don’t normally do, but I think that’s down to the crowds. I’ve got to keep calm for the next 60 hours now until the next race."

Absolutely incredible, I think I’ve definitely got the best job in the world," said Dobriskey. "I felt strong and powerful out there like my old self."

Day Four Evening Session

Women’s 200m Heats

Margaret Adeoye (Linford Christie) qualified for the semi-finals in heat one, finishing third with 22.94 – a new personal best. She will be joined by Abi Oyepitan (Tony Lester) who qualified from heat three with 22.92. Unfortunately it was the end of the road for Anyika Onuora in heat two, as she finished outside the top three and her time of 23.33 was not enough to earn a fastest qualifying spot.

Women’s Pole Vault Final

Holly Bleasdale (Julien Raffalli-Ebezant) bowed out of the competition after three failed attempts at 4.55m.

She said: "I’m really disappointed with how I did. I felt like I could have jumped around 4.70m but I struggled to cope with the conditions but I am trying to look at the positives and to finish in the top eight in my first Olympic final is pretty good but I am just heartbroken with how it went today."

Women’s 400m Hurdles Semi-Finals

It was a torturous night for Perri Shakes-Drayton (Chris Zah) inside the Olympic Stadium. The native East Londoner did not initially qualify for the final. However, a disqualification in heat three allowed Shakes-Drayton a place in the final as the second fastest loser with 55.19.

A little over 90 minutes later an appeal from the disqualified Denisa Rosolova was successful. The Czech athlete was reinstated after her federation appealed her trailing leg violation. Shakes-Drayton will not be in the final on Wednesday.

It was a hurdle too far for Eilidh Child (Malcolm Arnold) in heat three as she ran 56.03 to cross the line in fifth. 

Men’s 400m Hurdles Final

2011 world champion Dai Greene (Malcolm Arnold)  agonisingly finshed fourth in 48.24.

He said: "I managed to rally tonight and put in a good performance but was just found wanting at the end.

"That extra bit of strength just wasn’t there tonight so it was bitterly disappointing but I couldn’t have given anything more tonight, I was flat out and I didn’t make too many errors at all."