Christine Ohuruogu underlined her credentials as the world’s best female 400m runner as she won Olympic gold, whilst Germaine Mason won silver in a thrilling high jump competition.
Ohuruogu powered home in Tuesday evening’s final at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium, coming from fourth place at the final bend to win a pulsating race in 49.62 seconds.
The 24-year-old turned on the power on the home straight, surging past Russian pair Tatiana Firova and Yulia Gushchina before homing in on race leader Sanya Richards of the USA.
Chased by Jamaica’s Shericka Williams, Ohuruogu glided past Richards to win by a metre, with Williams in second place, and Richard coming home third to pick up the bronze.
"I am just so proud of myself," said Ohuruogu. "I know I can perform well when I need to. I may not have had a good season but, like at the (2007) world championships, that's what I train all year for.
"You always have all these dreams about winning, but you never think your dreams will be reality. I just ran across the line thinking 'I won!'.
"It's not luck. I worked damn hard for this. I'm just happy it's over so I can go to sleep.
"The 400m race is very hard. It's not about the fastest, it's about keeping it together. I just knew I had to fight her (USA runner Sanya Richards) from behind, always. I may not be fast, but I fight."
To get the evening rolling, high jumper Germaine Mason won Team GB’s first medal in the Birds Nest Stadium less than an hour before Ohuruogu took to the track.
But Mason did things the hard way to claim his silver medal.
He blatantly danced with lady luck on the way to the latter stages of the event, failing once at 2.29m and electing to pass on his remaining two attempts in search of precious metal. It was a gamble that paid off for Mason as he went on to clear 2.32m and 2.34m in a high class competition equalling his lifetime best.
Making attempts at 2.36m - it was the height that proved to be the undoing of the remainder of the field – Mason’s earlier roll of the dice made sure he was in the superior position, confirmed in silver just minutes later.
For Mason, it was a dream come true – winning a medal for his new country and equalling his life time best.
“It’s good when it comes as a surprise. I’ve been waiting to equal my personal best for five years, and I finally did it when it counts. It feels good, it feels like I’m Superman," said a delighted Mason.
“I’m very proud to be the first athletics medallist of the Games from Great Britain,” he added. “It took confidence, determination, a lot of concentration, and having a lot of fun. I was confident and focussed on my technique, I knew if I got that right, I’d get some good jumps. I wasn’t thinking about medals or places.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for four years. In the 2004 world indoors I was injured and it kept me out of the Athens Olympics.
“Great Britain gave me an opportunity to compete for them – I feel very British – Great Britain is my home now. Now that I’m here with a medal, I’m just so happy.”
Of the other two British finalists, Martyn Bernard also had a failure at 2.29m and like Mason attempted to gamble his way up the leader board, but despite two brave attempts at 2.32, exited the competition registering the same height as Tom Parsons – 2.25m.
Gold went to towering Russian Andrey Silinov who cleared 2.36 with some ease and narrowly failed an Olympic record attempt at 2.42m.
In the 400m semi finals, both Martyn Rooney and Andrew Steele hoped to make Thursday night’s final.
Rooney did everything he could to worry the GB support in the stadium, coming off the final bend down in fifth but then powering up to second place to qualify automatically in 44.60. Race winner LaShawn Merritt led the qualifying with 44.12.
It was vintage Rooney using his strength in the final 100m to pull back the deficit – qualifying fourth fastest for the finals, but team mate Andrew Steele could not repeat the feat in his semi.
Steele, who produced a personal best in his heat to qualify for tonight’s semi final finished in eighth place in 45.59.
Another athlete who departed the track in disappointment was 1500m finalist Andy Baddeley.
Having made sure he was well positioned and un-boxed for the final 300m, he did not have the legs to go with the break away at the bend, and despite his best efforts, faded to ninth in 3.35.37. The title was won by Bahrain’s Rashid Ramzi, in 3.32.94.
“I’m not happy with that, I’m glad I gave myself a chance and didn’t just go for a minor place, but I didn’t come for ninth,” he said.
“I was trying to get on that group in front but I didn’t quite have it, perhaps it’s because it’s the third round in three days, and it takes its toll.
“I’ve loved the Olympic experience – all apart from this moment now – I wanted to be out there doing a lap of honour.
“I thought I had a good chance tonight, and four years is a long time away, I’ll have to establish myself more and see what happens.”
Like Tasha Danvers in the 400m hurdles on Monday night, Christian Malcolm will return to the 200m Olympic final stage for the first time since the Sydney Olympics. Despite a poor start, Malcolm’s relaxed poise in the home straight saw him recover enough to take the fourth and final qualifying spot in 20.25 in a semi won by Churandy Martina.
In the next semi, Marlon Devonish struggled to flow in a race dominated by the presence of Jamaica’s Usain Bolt. Olympic 100m champion Bolt, who almost walked over the line in 20.09, was the fastest from the semi final stage, and looked the picture of ease whilst Devonish finished seventh in 20.57.
In the shadow of the high jump competition the second round of the men’s 110m hurdles took place. Andy Turner once again lined up alongside Dayron Robles, but this time the Sale man had no chance of being dragged through in a tough heat. His 13.53 for fifth place saw him leave the Olympic competition unable to match his World Championship semi final place of last year, just two one hundredths outside a fastest loser spot.
Soon after it was Allan Scott’s turn, and he too struggled, finishing sixth in 13.66.
Qualifying for the semi finals was led by American David Oliver in 13.16, ahead of Robles with 13.19.
Turner’s training group partner Sarah Claxton was another finalist in a night full of action, and whilst she did not threaten the British record, she still dipped under 13 seconds to register another strong time in coming eighth.
She almost caught America’s Lolo Jones, the favourite who was leading before she hit one of her final hurdles and stumbled her way over the line in seventh, gold being mercilessly snatched by USA team mate Dawn Harper in 12.54.
Earlier on in the evening, Emily Freeman had kicked off the Brits night on the track with her second round of the women’s 200m.
Lining up against Jamaica’s Sherone Simpson and Muna Lee from the USA meant that there could effectively be just the one place left – but Freeman grabbed the opportunity with both hands and qualified automatically alongside them for Wednesday’s semis. Her time identical to what she produced in the first round: 22.95.
“I wasn’t worried about the two that were going to go, but I was a bit tense,” she admitted.
“I’ll see what I can do in the next round and be a bit more relaxed. I don’t think I’ve ever run sub-23 twice in one day before and that’s a big thing for me.”
Jo Pavey – who was due to start in the 5000m did not compete after failing to recover sufficiently from Friday’s 10,000m race.
Athletics action returns to the Birds Nest stadium on Wednesday evening, with Christian Malcolm and Tasha Danvers in their 200m and 400m hurdles finals.
Go to www.teamgb.com and click on 'Results' to view all the latest Team GB results. Click on 'Team GB' to view profiles of all Team GB athletes.
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