|
|
|
|
Cuba's Dayron Robles won ahead of US athletes David Payne and David Oliver. [Agencies]
|
Cuba's world record holder Dayron Robles won the 110m hurdles Olympic title Thursday, clocking 12.93 seconds -- the second fastest time in Olympic history.
The 21-year-old beat home two Americans, 2007 world bronze medalist David Payne (13.17sec) and American champion David Oliver (13.18sec).
Robles showed no nerves and was never challenged after rising from the blocks, making the absence of defending champion Liu Xiang even more marked -- and to a lesser extent two-time silver medalist Terrence Trammell.
Liu pulled out injured just before the first heats of the event on Monday.
"I'm ecstatic that I am Olympic champion. It's always been my dream.” said Robles, who has dominated the event this season in the absence of Liu.
"It's disappointing Liu Xiang is not here." Robles said. "When he's there, you can feel his presence. When he's on the track there's always a good time at the end of the race. We athletes never wish an injury upon others, all I can say is I salute him and I hope he'll get back soon.
"I am sure he will come back and that we will have a really good rivalry next year in the World Championships (in Berlin).
"For me it is special to be mentioned in the same breath as (Anier) Garcia, for he was a legendary athlete and inspired me in taking up the hurdles." Robles repeated the success of Cuban Garcia, who won the event in the Sydney Games in 2000.
He sailed effortlessly over the hurdles in the race while behind him Payne and Oliver had difficulty in not clipping them.
Even as Robles eased over the line the two Americans held onto their placings though Oliver, the only man to beat Robles this season, had to withstand a challenge from France's 2005 world champion Ladji Doucoure.
Payne was delighted to have added Olympic silver to his world bronze.
"What can I say? Persistence pays off," he said. "I feel great. I feel great. I wasn't 100 percent this year. I had a lot of setbacks.
"I wanted to stay up with Robles but he left us behind." Payne was full of praise for the young Cuban.
"He's amazing and could not be stopped. He is a phenomenon and I am just going to have to pull all my stuff together. One day very soon, I'm going to go with him and hopefully beat him," said the 26-year-old, who was experiencing his first major global championships.
Oliver, though, insisted he was satisfied with taking the bronze.
"I'm very happy with that. There were no surprises out there," said the 26-year-old.
"I got an Olympic medal so no complaints."
點擊查看更多雙語新聞
(Agencies)
|
上周四的奧運會男子110米欄決賽中，世界紀錄保持者、古巴名將戴龍?羅伯斯以12秒93的成績摘得冠軍，這一成績僅次于奧運歷史上該項目的最好成績。
兩位美國選手，07年世錦賽銅牌得主戴維?佩恩（成績?yōu)?3秒17）和奧運選拔賽冠軍大衛(wèi)?奧立佛（成績?yōu)?3秒18）都未能趕上21歲的羅伯斯。
比賽時，羅伯斯顯得非常放松，在跨過幾個欄架之后，其領先優(yōu)勢更是無人能及。衛(wèi)冕冠軍劉翔以及兩屆銀牌得主特倫斯?特拉梅爾的缺席使這場比賽失色不少。
劉翔在本周一第一輪預賽前就因傷退出了比賽。
劉翔的缺席使羅伯斯在本賽季的比賽中獨占鰲頭，他說：“成為奧運冠軍，我太高興了，這是我一直以來的夢想。”
羅伯斯表示：“很遺憾，劉翔沒能參加比賽。他在場時，你能感覺到他的存在。如果他在跑道上，比賽的結尾部分肯定精彩絕倫。對我們運動員來說，誰都不希望有人受傷，我現(xiàn)在只能說我對劉翔表示敬意，希望他早日回到賽場。”
“我相信他很快就會回來的。在明年的柏林世錦賽上我們要真正好好較量一回。”
再次提到2000年悉尼奧運會上獲得該項冠軍的古巴選手阿尼爾?加西亞時，羅伯斯說：“對我來說，能和阿尼爾?加西亞相提并論實在是太榮幸了。他是一個傳奇的運動員，是他激勵我踏入跨欄這個領域的。”
在比賽中，他輕松地跨過了所有欄架，而身后的佩恩和奧立佛跨欄則顯得有些吃力。
在羅伯斯輕松地跑到終點以后，兩位美國選手最終還是保住了各自的位置。不過法國選手、2005年世錦賽冠軍杜庫雷對奧利弗造成一定的威脅。奧利弗是本賽季唯一可以與羅伯斯抗衡的一位選手。
佩恩對世錦賽銅牌加奧運銀牌的成績感到非常高興。
他說：“我該說些什么呢？堅持就是勝利。我感覺好極了。今年我并沒有完全發(fā)揮出自己的水平。我曾經(jīng)幾番失利。”
佩恩對這位年輕的古巴選手贊賞有加：“我想緊緊跟住羅伯斯，結果卻被他甩在了后面。”
他還說：“他簡直太讓人吃驚了，沒人能擋住他的步伐。他是個奇跡，我拼盡了全力也沒能追上他。希望在不久的將來，我可以趕上他，更希望能超過他。” 26歲的佩恩這是第一次參加世界大賽。
而銅牌得主奧利弗卻對自己的成績表示滿意。
26歲的奧利弗說：“我對這個成績很滿意，這樣的結果是意料之中的。”
“我獲得了一枚奧運獎牌，所以，沒什么好遺憾的。”
（實習生吳昭文 英語點津Helen編輯） |
