08.10.2010

Gold turns to gloom for Pearson, Patmore celebrates Games glory

Olympic silver medallist Sally Pearson was tonight left heartbroken after being disqualified from the women’s 100m final, hours after crossing the line in first place to seemingly become the first Australian female to win Commonwealth Games gold in the event since Raelene Boyle achieved the feat in 1974.

On a night of mixed fortunes for the Australian Flame at Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex in New Delhi (IND), Simon Patmore clocked a new personal best time of 11.14 (w:-0.3) to take gold in the men’s T46 100m and emerging Victorian Dale Stevenson took bronze in the men’s shot put with an equal career-best heave of 19.99m.

In a dramatic chain of events in the final of the women’s 100m Pearson, who was first across the line in a time of 11.28 (w:0.2), was forced to endure an agonising wait for the outcome of a series of protests to be determined and to learn if she had successfully bagged the first individual Commonwealth Games medal of her illustrious career.

Qualifying fastest for the final in a time of 11.28 (w:1.0), Pearson again posted 11.28 (w:0.2) in the deciding round only to be stripped of her victory hours later after a protest was launched against the Queenslander for an apparent false start.

While the electronic timing system showed Laura Turner (ENG) as the first athlete to have jumped the gun, Pearson’s reaction time of 0.071 meant technically, she had also false-started.

Pearson, who made a late entry into the 100m after touching down in New Delhi in superb shape, said it was a devastating end to the night.

"I guess I'm just numb right now, I don't really know what I feel. I’m obviously devastated and disappointed,” she said.

“It didn't go my way today and that's what I have to deal with. I'm just going to use my emotions and my anger and disappointment and put it into the hurdles and hope that I can come out on top.

“I'm in this sport as a competitor and an athlete just like everyone else and this is our career, our job, it's what we train for and to run the race, do the victory lap and everything be okay and then be told you can't have your medal now is horrible but I have to deal with it because that's the way sport is."

Athletics team manager Eric Hollingsworth said the result was a blow to Australia.

“The jury of appeal have done their independent assessment and it boils down to a reaction time of one thousandth of a second not being humanly possible, so two false starts have been credited in the race rather than Sally reacting to the English girl’s break and that's the basis of the decision from the jury," he said.

"It’s pretty disappointing, at the end of the day she is without question the fastest girl in the Commonwealth and we made a tough decision to put her in and to get that far and to win it, then to have it taken away, is obviously not good.

"This is high performance sport and this goes on all the time. Sally handled it like a professional high performance athlete.

"Sally's a great competitor so I don't anticipate anything but a gold medal at the end of the hurdles in three days’ time. I've got no doubt she will be as determined as hell to bring home a gold medal from Delhi."

Pearson’s disqualification saw Nigerian athlete Osayemi Oludamola (11.32) elevated to the gold medal position.

Teammate Melissa Breen was run out of contention in the semi-finals of the event, the 20-year-old ACT-based athlete clocking 11.78 (w:0.7) to place fifth in her race and just miss out on a berth in the deciding round.

In brighter news for the Australian Flame on day two of athletics action at Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex, Simon Patmore clocked a career-best time of 11.14 (w:-0.3) to take out line honours in the T46 100m.

Advancing to the final alongside teammate Gabriel Cole (11.92), Patmore turned it up a gear in the deciding round, leading the field from start to finish to take gold.

“It was the most amazing feeling ever, I just want to do it again right now,” Patmore said.

“A personal best, what an amazing feeling. It’s what I wanted, I wanted 11.1 and I got it. The gold medal is taking over the PB at the moment, gold is what I want but when I see the times I ran I’m just going to laugh.”

Fellow T46 100m contender Heath Francis was an unfortunate casualty for Australia, pulling up in the semi-finals of the event with a hamstring injury.

In the field, 22-year-old Dale Stevenson collected Australia’s third medal for the night, equalling the career-best mark of 19.99m he set at the IAAF Oceania Championships in Cairns last month to take bronze in the men’s shot put in front of his family and teammates.

“I’m still in a different world. It was fantastic, it hasn’t sunk in yet,” Stevenson said.

“You’ve got to put it in perspective, it would have been nice to crack 20m and push for silver but it’s a world-class competition.

“I have my family here and people I want to catch up with so it might be a long night.”

For the first time since the 1998 edition of the Commonwealth Games, Australian athletes featured in the finals of both the men’s and women’s 100m in New Delhi tonight with Victorian young gun Aaron Rouge-Serret joining Pearson in the medal round.

Placing third in his semi-final in 10.29 (w:0.9), Rouge-Serret automatically advanced to the final where he finished fifth in a time of 10.30 (w:0.3).

“It’s unbelievable, in my first Commonwealth Games I got through the semis, made the final and came fifth, I’m on cloud nine,” Rouge-Serret said.

“I’m happy with the time, I would have liked to go a bit quicker but as you know, anything can happen in these races.“

Rouge-Serret will now turn his attention to the heats of the 4x100m relay on Monday.

“I think our relay team can really stick it to these boys, we’ve just got to get through the heat and as you know with relays, a lot of teams can drop the baton and then it’s anyone’s game. Hopefully we can beat them without that happening,” he said.

Rounding out the 100m action on a big night for Australia on the track, 17-year-old Jodi Elkington placed fourth in the final of the T37 sprint in a time of 15.08 (w:0.5) and, with her first major championship under her belt, said she was already looking ahead to London 2012.

“Now I’ve had my first major competition so I can take a lot out of that. I’ll move to the Australian Institute of Sport in November and see if I can improve up there for the IPC world championships next year and London in 2012,” she said.

On a big night for the Australian Flame, Gabrielle Neighbour (63.46m), Bronwyn Eagles (63.43m) and Karyne Di Marco (62.38m) placed fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in a hard-fought final of the women’s hammer throw.

Thirty-two-year-old Di Marco, a veteran of four consecutive Commonwealth Games appearances, will retire from the sport on a high.

“It’s the last one, I’m 32 and I did my first Commonwealth Games 12 years ago and this is it, it’s quite emotional,” she said.

“From second to sixth there was a metre and a half so it was a very close competition, it was up there for anybody and unfortunately I couldn’t pull it off tonight.”

Di Marco ends her competitive career with four Commonwealth Games (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010), one Olympic (2000) and one world championships (2001) appearance to her name, her bronze medal at the 2002 edition of the Commonwealth Games going down as one of the highlights of her career.

Day three of athletics action at Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex sees world indoor champion Fabrice Lapierre and Chris Noffke line up in the qualifying rounds of the men’s long jump, Richard Colman, Kurt Fearnley and Jake Lappin take on the heats of the T54 100m, Lachlan Renshaw contest the heats of the 800m, Joel Milburn, Ben Offereins and Sean Wroe do battle in the semi-finals of the 400m, Tim Driesen and Simon Wardhaugh in the final of the hammer throw and Eloise Wellings in the final of the women’s 10,000m.