Posted: August 25, 2004

Athletics: U.S. women go 1-3 in hurdles; Clay wins silver

U.S. goes 1-3 in women's hurdles; Clay wins decathlon silver

ATHENS - Joanna Hayes etched her name in the Olympic record books and Bryan Clay became the #2 American decathlete of all-time, while Melissa Morrison added a third medal on the night Tuesday at Olympic Stadium.

Hayes (Los Angeles) became just the second American 100m hurdles gold medalist in history, doing it an Olympic record and personal best time of 12.37 seconds. Teammate Melissa Morrison (Columbia, S.C.) became the only two-time U.S. medalist in the event as the 2000 bronze medalist won her second bronze, finishing in 12.56. Olena Krasovska of Ukraine was second in a personal-best 12.45.

Hayes, who joins Benita Fitzgerald (1984) in the gold-medal club, came out well from the bocks and never looked in jeopardy of losing her lead, even as world champion Perdita Felicien of Canada, running to the right of Hayes in lane 5, crashed the first hurdle and crumpled to the ground at the second hurdle. Undaunted, Hayes ran a technically beautiful race, crossing the finish line well in front of the field and .01 ahead of Bulgarian world record holder Yordanka Donkova's 1988 Olympic record of 12.38.

One glitch came shortly afterward, when Irina Shevchenko of Russia, who had been knocked down by Felicien as she fell, filed a protest seeking a re-run of the race. At 1:30 a.m., the protest was denied and the results were upheld.

An experienced athlete in both hurdle disciplines, Hayes' resume includes the 1995 USA and Pan Am Junior 100m hurdles titles, the 1999 NCAA 400m hurdles title and the 2003 Pan Am 400m gold. But no medal and no moment shone as brightly for Hayes as her performance Tuesday night.

Feat of silver for Clay

Bryan Clay's performance provided greatly earned, if long-in-coming, respect for the 24-year-old Hawaii native. The 2004 world indoor heptathlon silver medalist, Clay finished his two-day Olympic decathlon trek with a huge personal best of 8,820 points. That score makes his the #2 American of all time, behind only Dan O'Brien whose American record of 8,891 is in reach. Tuesday night, Clay won the Olympic silver behind world record holder Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic, who set an Olympic record with 8,893 points. Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan was third with 8,725.

In afternoon and evening competition, Clay (Azusa, Calif.) threw the discus 50.11m/164-5 for 873 points, then pole vaulted 4.90m/16-0.75 (880). In the javelin, he threw a personal best of 69.71m/228-8 (885), the second-best mark on the day behind Sebrle, to move into second with 8,150 points. Entering the final event, Sebrle stood in first with 8,213, while Karpov had fallen to third with 8,003.

Clay didn't let one of his weaker events, the 1,500 meters, shatter his Olympic dream. He ran less than 3 seconds off his personal best to finish in 4:41.65, score 670 points and secure the silver. Teammate Paul Terek (Livonia, Mich.) finished 21st with 7,893 points. His marks for the evening included 45.62m/149-8 in the discus (780), 5.30m/17-4.5 in the pole vault (1004), 50.62m/166-2 in the javelin (598) and 4:50.36 in the 1,500m (616).

Team USA narrowly missed out on more medals in the women's 400 meters. Monique Hennagan (Stockbridge, Calif.), Dee Dee Trotter (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Sanya Richards (Austin, Texas) went 4-5-6 in Tuesday's final. Hennagan got out well and was in third position until the final meters, finishing in 49.97. Running out of lane 1, Trotter made a strong stretch run and finished in a personal-best 50.00 for fifth, with Richards right behind at 50.19. Tonique Williams of the Bahamas won the race in 49.41, followed by Ana Guevara of Mexico (49.56) and Natalya Antyukh of Russia (49.89).

Daniel Lincoln (Fayetteville, Ark.) posted a strong time in the 3,000m men's steeplechase final, finishing 11th in 8:16.86. Kenyans swept the event, with Ezekiel Kemboi winning in 8:05.81, Brimin Kipruto second in 8:06.11, and Paul Koech third in 8:06.64.

Triple double in qualifying rounds

Qualifying came in pairs for Team USA as two athletes advanced to finals in the men's 400m hurdles, women's 200 meters and men's long jump.

Team USA will have two men in the 400m hurdle final on Thursday, thanks to the efforts of James Carter and Bennie Brazell. Olympic Trials champion Carter (Hampton, Va.) won the third semifinal heat in 48.18 seconds, while 22-year-old NCAA runner-up Brazell ran 48.19 to place second in heat 2 in 48.19. Defending Olympic gold medalist Angelo Taylor (Decatur, Ga.) was fourth in heat 1 in 48.72 and did not advance.

In men's long jump qualifying, reigning world champion Dwight Phillips needed just one jump to pop off 8.31m/27-3.25, easily surpassing the automatic qualifying mark of 8.10m/26-7 and leading the field. He will compete in Thursday's final with NCAA indoor and outdoor champion John Moffitt, who jumped 8.17m/26-9.75 on his second attempt to qualify. Moffitt's fellow LSU product, Walter Davis, had a mark of 7.80m/25-7.25 and did not make the cut.

Allyson Felix (Santa Clarita, Calif.) continued to show smooth, easy form in the women's 200m, winning the first of two semifinals in 22.36 seconds. Muna Lee (Baton Rouge, La.) was fourth in the same race in 22.69 to advance as well. LaShaunte'a Moore (Fayetteville, Ark.) was sixth in the second semi in 22.93 and did not make the final.

American men won all three of their heats of the men's 200 meter second round. Shawn Crawford (Raleigh, N.C.) took heat 1 in 19.95 seconds, followed by Bernard Williams (Gainesville, Fla.) in heat 2 (20.40) and Justin Gatlin in heat 3 (20.03). The trio will compete in the semifinals Thursday evening.

Olympic Trials champion Carrie Tollefson (Minneapolis, Minn.) was nipped at the wire to place sixth in heat 1 of the women's 1,500m first round in 4:06.46. Atlhough the top five finishers automatically advanced to Wednesday's semifinal, Tollefson made it through as the 14th fastest overall runner and the fourth of nine additional time qualifiers.

Malone moves to sixth in discus

Casey Malone (Fort Collins, Colo.) moved from seventh to sixth place in Monday night's men's discus final standings when winner Robert Fazekas of Hungary was disqualified for failing to submit to his post-event doping test. Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuana moved into first, with Zoltan Kovago of Hungary second and Aleksander Tammert of Estonia third.

WR for Isinbayeva

Russian vaulting star Yelena Isinbayeva set yet another world record in the women's pole vault, clearing 4.91m/16-1.25 to win the gold medal.

Team USA Olympic medal count, track & field

As of August 24

Total Medals: 11
Gold (3)
Joanna Hayes, 27, Los Angeles, W100mH, 8/24
Jeremy Wariner, 20, Waco, Texas, M400m, 8/23
Justin Gatlin, 22, Raleigh, N.C., M100m, 8/22
Silver (4)
Otis Harris, 22, Columbia, S.C., M400m, 8/23
Matt Hemingway, 31, Littleton, Colo., MHJ, 8/22
Lauryn Williams, 20, Miami, Fla., W100m, 8/21
Adam Nelson, 29, Athens, Ga., MSP, 8/18
Bronze (4)
Melissa Morrison, 33, Columbia, S.C., W100mH, 8/24
Derrick Brew, 26, Baton Rouge, La., M400m, 8/23
Deena Kastor, 31, Mammoth Lakes, Calif., WMarathon, 8/22
Maurice Greene, 30, Granada Hills, Calif., M100m, 8/22