RIO DE JANEIRO: Kerron Clement of the United States dipped on the line to win the men’s Olympic 400 meters hurdles on Thursday after one of his leading rivals, Puerto Rico’s Javier Culson, was disqualified for a false start.
The long-striding Clement led down the home straight and was still clear as he entered the closing meters. But he had to lean into the tape to deny Kenya’s Boniface Tumuti, charging up fast two lanes to his right.
“I fought the last 100 meters because I knew the guys would be coming. The last few meters I just dug down deeper,” Clement said after clocking 47.73 seconds to win by 0.05 of a second.
Culson, 32, bronze medallist in London in 2012, blew his chance by jumping the gun, and briefly sat sobbing by the side of the track before trudging away.
“When he false-started I just said to myself: ‘Refocus’,” Clement told reporters. “The adrenaline rush just zapped him out.. I tried not to let it affect me and just focus on the 10 hurdles in my lane again.”
Tumuti said he had “lost the gold dream” with a miscalculation on the approach to the seventh hurdle.
Turkey’s Yasmani Copello won the bronze and told reporters: “I think my mother is crying. I am the younger son and I’m making her dreams come true. She will be crying a lot.”
It was Clement’s first major championship medal since he won the 2009 world title, having taken the silver at the Beijing Olympics the year before.
In London four years ago he came eighth, after suffering hernia problems and undergoing surgery twice.
“Coming out here in 2016 for me is a redemption year. I’m just really honored to get the gold medal,” the 30-year-old said, describing himself as still young for a hurdler and intent on competing in Tokyo in four years’ time.
Thomas Barr of Ireland came fourth, narrowly failing to win Ireland’s first Olympic medal on the track since Sonia O’Sullivan took silver in the 5,000m at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
“If you can’t be happy with a lifetime best ... I would be lying if I said I was complaining, but I was so close — 0.5 of a second, and I think I could have found it,” the Irishman said. “Fourth is the worst place, as you are so close.”
Hungarian kayaker Danuta Kozak fought off a fearsome pack of competitors to successfully defend her Olympic title in the women’s K-1 500 meters final on Thursday.
Kozak, 29, claimed the fifth Olympic medal of her career and her second gold of the Rio Games in one minute 52.49 seconds, while Emma Jorgensen of Denmark took silver.
Kozak, who also won Tuesday’s women’s K-2 500 meters, will seek a rare triple gold in a single Olympics, returning on Friday for the K-4 500 meters heat.
New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington, who won gold in the women’s kayak single 200 meters on Tuesday, uncharacteristically struggled throughout the race.
She languished behind much of the pack at the halfway point, before battling back to claim bronze in the final stretch.
Alistair Brownlee became the first triathlete to defend his Olympic title on Thursday with his brother Jonny taking the silver medal on Rio’s Copacabana.
The British siblings finished comfortably clear of South Africa’s bronze medallist Henri Schoeman.
While Alistair, 28, was repeating his success in London’s Hyde Park, his two-year younger brother was improving on his bronze he collected at the 2012 Games.
The official result records that Alistair beat Jonny by six seconds, but it could have been a lot more if he had not taken time to soak in his moment of glory, slowing to a walk as the line approached with a broad smile on his face and looking back to watch his brother finish.
“I was confident,” said Alistair. “We have trained to our limits. I knew I had a gap at the end so I stopped to enjoy it.”
Fortunately there was to be no repeat of Jonny’s collapse after crossing the line in London.
This time he fell to the ground and embraced Alistair after another job well done.
Rio’s iconic crescent-shaped Copacabana beach was the battleground for the British brothers who have honed their triathlon skills training in their hilly home county of Yorkshire.
Jamaica kept Usain Bolt’s quest for his “triple triple” gold medal haul on track Thursday by qualifying for the final of the 4x100m relay.
The quartet of Jevaughn Minzie, Asafa Powell, Nickel Ashmeade and Kemar Bailey-Cole timed 37.94 seconds in finishing second behind Japan, who won in an Asian record of 37.68sec.
“I love this sport and I love to run and compete and run fast,” said 33-year-old veteran Powell, a member of the Jamaica team that won relay golds in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 and 2015 world championships.
“I was lot more concerned about the start and getting the baton around. These guys are pretty excited, they wanted it so that’s what gave me a bit of comfort.
“But there was some pressure on making it to the finals, the first time running with these two young guys,” he said in reference to Minzie and Bailey-Cole.
Japan’s anchor leg Aska Cambridge said: “The guys brought me the baton in a great position and I just took us home really.
“It felt great to be clear at the front on a stage like the Olympics. It’s always been a dream to race against Bolt so we’ll go in and try to hit as hard as we can.”
Bolt, rested for the qualifier, can join American Frank Wykoff (1928, 1932, 1936) as the only athlete to win three gold medals in the men’s 4x100m relay.
The United States’ women’s 4x100m relay team face a nerve-jangling time-trial to force their way into Friday’s final after a dropped baton drama Thursday.
In an unusual move, the American quartet will re-run their race as a solo heat with the task of trying to beat eighth-fastest qualifiers China’s time of 42.70sec.
China later responded to the US reprieve by filing a protest against the decision, officials confirmed.
The decision to give the defending Olympic champions another crack at reaching the final came after a tumultuous morning heat.
US star Allyson Felix was bumped by a Brazilian rival as she prepared to hand over to English Gardner, knocking her off balance and sending the baton tumbling to the floor.
At first glance it looked like another in a long line of US relay blunders in recent years.
The US women botched an exchange and dropped a baton in both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.
Clement gets redemption with 400m hurdles gold, Culson left sobbing
Clement gets redemption with 400m hurdles gold, Culson left sobbing
