ATHENS, Aug 26: Fani Halkia drove the crowd at the Olympic Stadium into a frenzy on Wednesday when she strode imperiously to Greece's second athletics gold of the Games in the women's 400 metres hurdles final.
Halkia, a former high jumper who has improved her personal best by nearly three-and-a-half seconds in the past year, was greeted with rapturous applause when she was introduced before the race.
The title favourite after her extraordinary 52.77 seconds in the semifinals, the sixth fastest time ever, Halkia looked supremely confident as she settled into her blocks.
She drew level with Australia's world champion Jana Pittman in the adjoining lane and pulled away steadily from the field to win in 52.82 seconds. The extent of Halkia's improvement this year can be judged by her performance in the Budapest world indoor championships this year.
Halkia clocked 52.90 for sixth place in the 400 flat final. On Wednesday, despite having also to clear 10 barriers, she was 0.08 of a second faster. Pittman, who ignored medical advice and opted to compete despite undergoing surgery on a knee cartilage less than three weeks ago, finished fifth.
Jamaican Veronica Campbell recorded a convincing win in the women's 200 metres final over 18-year-old American Allyson Felix, clocking a personal best of 22.05. Setting a world junior record of 22.18 was little consolation to Felix.
Campbell is only the second Jamaican track athlete to win an Olympic title. The third title of the day went to Russian women's hammer thrower Olga Kuzenkova, who won a major title at last with an Olympic record of 75.02 metres after finishing second at the 2000 Sydney Games and runner-up in two subsequent world championships.
Triple Olympic champion Marion Jones qualified comfortably for Friday's women's long jump final with her second attempt of 6.70 metres. Her partner Tim Montgomery, the world 100 metres record holder, has received a letter from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) alleging serious doping offences.
USADA has also been scrutinising Jones, who qualified only for the long jump in Athens after picking up five medals in Sydney four years ago but will run in the 4x100 relay. American world high hurdles champion Allen Johnson was another to make a premature exit when he crashed to the track in his semifinal.
RESULTS OF FINALS ON WEDNESDAY:
WOMEN'S 400 METRES HURDLES: 1. Fani Halkia (Greece) 52.82 seconds; 2. Ionela Tirlea-Manolache (Romania) 53.38; 3. Tetiana Tereshchuk-Antipova (Ukraine) 53.44; 4. Sheena Johnson (US) 53.83; 5. Jana Pittman (Australia) 53.92; 6. Yekaterina Bikert (Russia) 54.18; 7. Brenda Taylor (US) 54.97; 8. Yuliya Pechenkina (Russia) 55.79.
