By Neil Maidment
LONDON Aug 9 (Reuters) – Jamaica’s bid for the men’s 4×400
metres relay gold was cut short by injury on Thursday when
Jermaine Gonzales pulled up with an injury in the third leg of
their heat.
The world championship bronze medallists, who had fancied
their chances of ending America’s dominance in the event, looked
devastated with Gonzales on his knees in despair.
Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, had said on Wednesday
there was a slim chance he might have run in the final for
Jamaica.
The heat was won by Beijing silver medallists the Bahamas
with a season’s best of 2 minutes 58.87 seconds, nipping just in
front of world champions and winners of the event at the last
seven Olympics, the United States.
Joining them in Friday’s final will be medal contenders
Trinidad and Tobago and Britain, who finished first and second
in the day’s first heat.
South Africa’s double-amputee Oscar Pistorius’s much
anticipated run never materialised after his compatriot Ofentse
Mogawane collided with Kenya’s Vincent Mumo Kiilu on the last
bend of the second leg and was too hurt to continue.
Pistorius, who races wearing carbon fibre prosthetic blades
after being born without a fibula in both legs, stood with his
hands on his head but stayed to clap his race rivals home.
(Reporting by Neil Maidment; editing by Mark Meadows)
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