This evening sees the conclusion of the Decathlon with the final two events. Briton Dean Macey, lies in fifth, but after disappointing performances in the Discus and Pole Vault he's probably missed out on a medal.
Competing in the first group, Bryan Clay of the US threw a personal best 69.71 (885 points) with his third and final throw to put the pressure on Karpov and Sebrle, who were both in the second group.
Dean Macey finished thre a disappointing 58.46 for 715 points.
In the second group, Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic made a 70.52 final throw, to move past Clay with 8213 points, with one event remaining.
The leader through seven events, Dmitriy Karpov, gave it his all, throwing the Javelin to equal his personal best (55.54) to slip to third, but .
Chiel Warners retained fourth with 7650 points from a 55.39 Javelin throw, just ahead of Macey.
| 1 | Roman Sebrle | CZE | 9213 |
| 2 | Bryan Clay | USA | 8150 |
| 3 | Dmitriy Karpov | KAZ | 8033 |
| 4 | Chiel Warners | NED | 7650 |
| 5 | Dean Macey | GBR | 7639 |
| 6 | Attila Zsivóczky | HUN | 7539 |
| 7 | Erki Nool | EST | 7531 |
The current point differential would require Clay to defeat Sebrle by almost ten seconds in order to claim the gold medal.
The Long Jump pit was directly in front of our seats.
In the first group, World Champion Dwight Phillips (USA) needed but one effort to advance to Thursday’s final in the Long Jump, with an 8.31 effort to lead all qualifiers. With the next jump, Joan Lino Martínez (Spain) with 8.10 also qualified. The only other automatic qualifier was American John Moffitt who leaped 8.17 with his second attempt.
In Group B, the ninth jumper, Jonathan Chimier of Mauritius, who extended his own national record to 8.28 to qualify with his first attempt. Atlanta Olympic silver medallist James Beckford of Jamaica, the Commonwealth record holder, reached 8.20 with his only jump to easily advance as well. Briton Christopher Tomlinson reached a seasonal best of 8.23, with his second jump, to also reach the final.
American, World leader Shawn Crawford led the opening heat with his time of 19.95. Despite easing up in the final 20 metres, Crawford easily beat Frank Fredericks (Namibia) into second.
Another american, Bernard Williams won Heat 2 in 20.40, just ahead of the Greek Anastasios Gousis in 20.46.
Olympic 100m champion, Justin Gatlin, completed a clean sweep of american qualifiers with his 20.03 win in heat three. Gatlin eased up some 15 metres from the finish, yet easily outdistanced Jamaican Asafa Powell, who was next in 20.23.
In the final heat, 100m silver medallist Francis Obiwkelu (Portugal) won in 20.33, just ahead of Stephane Buckland of Mauritius in 20.36.
Britons Christian Malcolm (20.56) and Darren Campbell (20.59) qualified as a fastest losers from Heats Three and Four respectively.
Tomashova Tatyana (Russia) won Heat One on a photo finish from Tobias Nataliya (Ukraine). Britain's Hayley Tullett finished seventh and has to wait on the times of the other races.
Heat Two saw Britain's Kelly Holmes utilise the tactic that had been successful in the 800 metres competition, staying at the back of the field and coming throiugh in the home straight. Holmes finished second to the Russian Natalya Yevdokimova, but looks in good form to complete the double on the last day of athletics competition. Having missed her victory yesterday, we are hopeful that we will see a gold on the track on Saturday!
Romania’s Maria Cioncan won the third heat in (4:06.68). Britain's Jo Pavey was well down the field, but the slow time ensured that Tullet qualified for the Semi's as a fastest loser.
On the other side of the stadium the second women's Olympic Pole Vault has begun. The early rounds were fairly pedestrian, but 4.55 was the killer height. Seven competitors failed to clear leaving just five left in the competition. Russians Svetlana Feofanova and Yelena Isinbayeva and the Pole Monika Pyrek had no failures, but Anna Rogowska of Poland needed her last attempt to progress. Edda Elisdóttir Thórey (Israel) had cleared on her second attempt, but with two failures at 4.40 she was fifth at this stage.
The first heat saw the defending Olympic champion Angelo Taylor, of America, drawn side by side with double World champion Felix Sanchez (Dominican Republic). The two were for the majority of the race. However, Taylor clipped the ninth hurdle and totally lost his momentum. with the Dominican just slightly quicker over the eighth hurdle. Whilst Sanchez cruised to the finish in a comfortable 47.93, Taylor was overtaken by former World Junior champion Marek Plawgo (Poland) and Alwyn Myburgh (South Africa).
The second semi-final, as Dai Tamesue of Japan, the last man to defeat Sanchez, Periklis Iakovakis of Greece, last year’s World bronze medallist, Llewelyn Herbert, the defending bronze medallist and Commonwealth champion Christopher Rawlinson of Great Britain all missed the cut. Only two athletes advanced from this heat: fourth place finisher in Paris Danny McFarlane of Jamaica (48.00) and US Trials bronze medalist Bennie Brazell (48.19). Rawlinson who was never in contention as he couldn’t handle the tight bends of the inside lane was assisted by the medical team just past the finish line as the Briton hurt his left knee and was stretched out of the track. The last semi-final also had its share of drama although US champion James Carter was never really challenged and took the win in 48.18. Carter took a blistering start in lane four with Paris World Championships finalist Kemel Thompson deciding to follow the American’s suicidal pace. The Jamaican held on until he entered the final straight but by then US-born Bayano Kamani of Panama and Jiri Muzik of Czech Republic were level with Thompson. Coming off the final hurdle, Muzik was out of contention not being able to turn his speed up a notch in the run-in while Thompson, Kamani and France’s Naman Keita – who had been back in sixth coming into the home straight – desperately dipping on the line. Reminiscent of his compatriot Marc Raquil’s devastating kick which granted the Frenchman the 400m bronze medal in Paris, Keita left it to the very last stages to kick. And his tactics paid off tonight as the photo finish read: Kamani second in 48.23, Keita third in 48.24 and Thompson fourth in 48.25. Kamani qualified automatically with Keita, the second fastest loser of the whole field, also making it to the final. A three-time Jamaican champion Thompson was out for one hundredth of a second!
The pressure of the big event was having its effect. Feofanova cleared 4.70m easily, but Isinbayeva misjudged her attempt and failed. Rowgowska cleared and Elisdóttir Thórey was eliminated with her first attempt at this height having failed twice at 4.65. Pyrek also failed at 4.65.
The formbook suggested that IAAF World Ranked No.1 Tonique Williams-Darling (Bahamas) and the World Champion Ana Guevara (Mexico) were the two to beat and so it ptroved to be.
Williams-Darling in lane four, headed Guevara in lane three, as the stagger unwound, but Guevara moved up onto her rival's shoulder in the finnishing straight.
Williams-Darling proved to be the stringer, winning in 49.41, with Guevara second in 49.56. Natalya Antyukh, of Russia, claimed third, but nothing could overshadow the delight of Tonique Williams-Darling, who had secured the Bahamas first individual Gold medl!
| 1 | Roman Sebrle | CZE | 8893 (New Olympic Record) |
| 2 | Bryan Clay | USA | 8820 |
| 3 | Dmitriy Karpov | KAZ | 8725 |
| 4 | Dean Macey | GBR | 8414 |
| 5 | Chiel Warners | NED | 8343 |
| 6 | Attila Zsivóczky | HUN | 8287 |
| 7 | Laurent Hernu | FRA | 8237 |
| 8 | Erki Nool | EST | 8235 |
The Morrocan Hicham El Guerrouj has dominated this event for the last eight years. In that time, he had lost only four of his races prior to this event, but two of them had been Olympic finals! He had suffered illness in the run-up to the Games and for the first time in almost a decade was not the favourite to win, that befell Kenyan Bernard Lagat, the Sydney bronze medallist.
After a false start, it was Lagat who led the initial charge. With an initially slow pace, another Kenyan, Isaac Songok, led the field through 400m in 1:00.42.
El Guerrouj began to move after 700m, moving gradually onto Songok’s shoulder. They passed 800m in 2:01.93 and, as he’s done so often before, El Guerrouj kicked to the front down the back straight, turning up the pace with a string of runners following behind him.
He was just ahead at the bell but Lagat, Ivan Heshko (Ukraine) and Reyes Estevez (Spain) were within striking distance. At the final bend Lagat began to press El Guerrouj, as Portugal's Rui Silva moved into third place.
As they entered the finishing stretch it looked like Lagat might overtake El Guerrouj, as they fought for the line. Lagat gave everything, but El Guerrouj, held on to secure his coverted Gold medal.
Britain's Micheal East had finished sixth.
In winning the Olympic title, El Guerrouj had finally captured the only accolade that had eluded him.
The Pole Vault final is still continuing, but with only two competitors left. The action is all on the other side of the stadium so we haven't got a very good view! The Russian pair of Svetlana Feofanova and Yelena Isinbayeva remain in the competition with Anna Rogowska of Poland having secured at least Bronze. Isinbayeva has passed at 4.70 and 4.75, with Feofanova clearing 4.70 at her first attempt, and then 4.75 on the try.
Isinbayeva re-enters the fray at 4.80. Two failures and she finishes with Bronze, but she clears at her first attempt. Feofanova fails and now lying second on count-back passes. Isinbayeva clears again at 4.85, and then Feofanova fails and then moves the bar up to 4.90. She fails again and Isinbayeva has won!
Isinbayeva moves the bar up the extra centimetre that will enable her to set a new World Record. The stadium is hushed as she prepares for the attempt. Many of the spectators have left the stadium, but there is an enormous roar as she clears the bar!
| 1 | Yelena Isinbayeva | RUS | 4.91 (New World Record) |
| 2 | Svetlana Feofanova | RUS | 4.75 |
| 3 | Anna Rogowska | POL | 4.70 |
| 4 | Monika Pyrek | POL | 4.55 |
| 5 | Thórey Edda Elisdóttir | ISL | 4.55 |
A historic day in Olympic history and we'd been there to see it! Not only did we get a Women's Pole Vault World Record to complete an exciting competition, but we'd seen Hicham El Guerrouj, probably, the greatest 1500m runner of all time, capture the only thing was missing from his list of achievements, an Olympic gold medal.