No London berth for Olympic decathlon champion Clay
June 24th, 2012 - 5:27 pm ICT by IANSWashington, June 24 (IANS) US decathlon great Bryan Clay has been denied a chance to defend his title at the 2012 London Olympics after being disqualified at the trials.
Clay stumbled in Saturday’s 110m hurdles at Eugene, Oregon, to cross the finish line in a poor 16.8 seconds and was disqualified in his heat for not clearing the last hurdle, reported Xinhua.
He had been third overall after the first day of the 10-event competition but fell to the 16th after the hurdles. Only the top three from the meet will earn berths to the London Olympics.
Clay won the 2008 Beijing Games decathlon with a margin of 240 points, the greatest at the Olympics since 1972. He’s the first American to win the decathlon since Dan O’Brien in 1996.
Last year’s world champion Ashton Eaton and reigning world champion Trey Hardee are now leading the decathlon standings in the U.S. trials after six events.
- Olympic decathlon: Eaton grinds out gold for US - Aug 10, 2012
- Olympics: Bolt retains sprint titles, US overtakes China in medal tally (Roundup) - Aug 10, 2012
- Dix out of 200m for London Games - Jun 30, 2012
- Olympics: Saina, Kashyap surge ahead; Leander-Vishnu go down fighting (Overall Roundup) - Aug 02, 2012
- Liu Xiang equals men's 110m hurdles world record - Jun 03, 2012
- Olympics: Kashyap, Saina bring joy (Intro Roundup) - Aug 02, 2012
- Olympics: Kashyap first Indian male shuttler in quarterfinals (India Roundup) - Aug 01, 2012
- Bolt wins another gold, another world record - Aug 21, 2009
- Liu Xiang leads China's medal charge in London - Jul 09, 2012
- Bolt, Pearson named IAAF athletes of the year - Nov 13, 2011
- Phelps wins 200m freestyle at US Olympic trials - Jun 28, 2012
- Mary Kom out of Worlds, still in Olympic race - May 16, 2012
- Jamaica make clean sweep of sprint golds, US relay in disaster - Aug 21, 2008
- Liu Xiang, Robles set for Birmingham showdown - Feb 10, 2012
- Former ace athelete Suresh Babu dies in Ranchi - Feb 19, 2011
Tags: 110m hurdles, 2008 beijing, 2012 london olympics, ashton, berth, bryan clay, eaton, eugene oregon, finish line, games, june 24, last hurdle, o brien, olympic decathlon, olympics, world champion, xinhua