LONDON – Trinidadian Jehue Gordon and Aliann Pompey of Guyana are the only two non-Jamaicans who made it out of the opening rounds of this morning’s track and field competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Lining up in the fifth of six heats and running out of lane nine, Gordon was second in his heat in the men’s 400-metre hurdles in 49.37 seconds behind defending champion Angela Taylor. The American clocked 49.24 to win the heat.
Also advancing was Jamaican Leford Green who was second in his heat in 49.30 seconds.
Missing the cut were Jamaicans Josef Robertson (49.98) and Roxroy Cato (50.22) who were both fifth in their respective heats. Javier
Culson of Puerto Rico had the fastest qualifying time of 48.33 seconds.
Running out of lane eight, Pompey made a very fast start and held on for 300 metres, going on to post a season’s best 52.10 seconds. Jamaican Christine Day was second in that heat in 51.05 seconds behind world champion Amantle Montsho of Botswana who had the fastest qualifying time of 50.40.
Also qualifying from Jamaica were Novlene Williams-Mills and Rosemarie Whyte in 50.88 and 50.9 seconds, respectively.
The news was not so good for Afia Charles of Antigua who finished 38th overall in 54.25, while Kineke Alexander of St Vincent & The Grenadines and Shaunae Miller of The Bahamas both pulled up on the backstretch and did not finish.
Kanika Beckles of Grenada did not start after picking up an injury in practice on Thursday.
In the field events, Jamaican Dorian Scott’s 20.31 in the shot put was 11th overall, the second last spot, while a personal best 14.53m by Kimberly Williams and 14.31 by Trecia Smith also put them through to the next round of the women’s triple jump. (SAT)
