29 August 2004	Sunday	12 Rajab 1425

ATHENS, Aug 28: China got the perfect boost ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Friday by bagging two athletics gold medals as tearful United States sprint queen Marion Jones bowed out empty-handed.

Liu Xiang stormed to victory in the 110 metres hurdles with a world-record-equalling performance before long distance runner Xing Huina overcame a strong Ethiopian challenge in the women's 10,000 metres.

But elsewhere it was a different tale for athletics' former pin-up girl Marion Jones, who failed to land a medal of any colour in her two finals, the long jump and 4x100 metres relay.

There was heartache too for British icon Paula Radcliffe, who bombed out of the 10,000 metres days after flopping in the marathon.

There was, though, a golden farewell for legendary Polish walker Robert Korzeniowski as the 36-year-old won his fourth Olympic title and third successive 50km crown.

America, however, did not go away empty handed as Timothy Mack led a US 1-2 - Toby Stevenson taking silver - in the pole vault in an enthralling competition that saw the winner set a new Olympic record of 5.95 metres.

Liu became the first man from China to win an Olympic athletics gold medal after scorching to victory and matched Colin Jackson's 11-year-old world record of 12.91 seconds set at the 1993 world championships in Stuttgart.

The 21-year-old Shanghai student's time could even be regarded as better than the Briton's as the wind was 0.3 in the Olympic final compared to the 0.5 when Jackson set it.

Liu shot out of the blocks after the field had been given a false start and skimmed over the 10 flights to beat American Terrence Trammell, the 2000 Sydney Olympics silver medallist, into second place just ahead of Cuba's Sydney champion Anier Garcia.

Xing, 20, timed a personal best of 30 minutes 24.36 seconds to become only the fourth ever Chinese female athlete to take gold.

Radcliffe was already in the tunnel well before Xing's moment of glory having ended her futile bid eight laps from home.

Jones made a tearful exit, finishing an unhappy campaign empty-handed four years after being the golden girl of the Sydney Games.

The 28-year-old came fifth in the long jump and was then involved in a baton change blunder in the 4x100 metres relay which left a United States women's quartet out of the medals for the first time since 1980.

It completed a miserable year for Jones, who has found herself at the centre of an ongoing drugs scandal investigation that has already wrecked the career of sprinter boyfriend Tim Montgomery.

Jones, who won three gold medals and two bronzes at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, qualified only for the long jump in the individual events at the Athens Games.

Tatyana Lebedeva led a Russian medals sweep in the long jump after taking a bronze in the triple jump.

Lebedeva, who cried after finishing third on Monday, leaped 7.07 metres in the second round.

Compatriots Irina Simagina and Tatyana Kotova took silver and bronze respectively. Both jumped 7.05 with Simagina getting second place on the countback.

World record holder Osleidys Menendez of Cuba predictably won the women's javelin gold, launching her first throw 71.53 metres.

The mark was nearly three metres longer than Trine Hattestad's 2000 Olympic record, one centimetre short of the Cuban's own three-year-old world record and four metres better than the lifetime best of anyone else in the final.

Results of finals on Friday:

Women's javelin: 1. Osleidys Menendez (Cuba) 71.53 metrs; 2. Steffi Nerius (Germany) 65.82; 3. Mirela Manjani (Greece) 64.29; 4. Nikola Brejchova (Czech Republic) 64.23; 5. Sonia Bisset (Cuba) 63.54; 6. Laverne Eve (Bahamas) 62.77; 7. Noraida Bicet (Cuba) 62.51; 8. Tetyana Lyakhovych (Ukraine) 61.75; 9. Savva Lika (Greece) 60.91; 10. Taina Kolkkala (Finland) 60.72; 11. Felicia Tilea Moldovan (Romania) 59.72; 12. Barbara Madejczyk (Poland) 58.22.

Men's pole vault: 1. Timothy Mack (US) 5.95 metrs; 2. Toby Stevenson (US) 5.90; 3. Giuseppe Gibilisco (Italy) 5.85; 4. Igor Pavlov (Russia) 5.80; 5. Danny Ecker (Germany) 5.75; 6. Lars Boergeling (Germany) 5.75; 7. Derek Miles (US) 5.75; 8. Aleksander Averbukh (Israel) 5.65; 9 equal. Denys Yurchenko (Ukraine) 5.65, 9 equal. Rens Blom (Netherlands) 5.65; 11 equal. Paul Burgess (Australia) 5.55, 11 equal. Tim Lobinger (Germany) 5.55; 13 equal. Pavel Gerasimov (Russia) 5.55, 13 equal. Daichi Sawano (Japan) 5.55, 13 equal. Ruslan Yeremenko (Ukraine) 5.55; 16. Oleksandr Korchmid (Ukraine) 5.55.

Women's 4x100m relay: 1. Jamaica 41.73 seconds (Tayna Lawrence/Sherone Simpson/Aleen Bailey/Veronica Campbell); 2. Russia 42.27 (Olga Fyodorova/Yuliya Tabakova/Irina Khabarova/Larisa Kruglova); 3. France 42.54 (Veronique Mang/Muriel Hurtis/Sylviane Felix/Christine Arron); 4. Bahamas 42.69 (Timicka Clarke/Chandra Sturrup/Shandria Brown/Debbie Ferguson); 5. Belarus 42.94 (Yuliya Nesterenko/Natalya Safronnikova/Yelena Nevmerzhitskaya/ Oksana Dragun); 6. Belgium 43.11 (Katleen De Caluwe/Lien Huyghebaert/Elodie Ouedraogo/Kim Gevaert); 7. Nigeria 43.42 (Gloria Kemasuode/Mercy Nku/Oludamola Osayomi/Endurance Ojokolo); United States did not finish (Angela Williams/Marion Jones/Lauryn Williams/Latasha Colander).

Men's 110 metres hurdles: 1. Liu Xiang (China) 12.91 seconds (world record); 2. Terrence Trammell (US) 13.18; 3. Anier Garcia (Cuba) 13.20; 4. Maurice Wignall (Jamaica) 13.21; 5. Stanislavs Olijars (Latvia) 13.21; 6. Charles Allen (Canada) 13.48; 7. Mateus Facho Inocencio (Brazil) 13.49; 8. Ladji Doucoure (France) 13.76.

Women's 10,000 metres: 1. Xing Huina (China) 30 minutes 24.36 seconds; 2. Ejegayehu Dibaba (Ethiopia) 30:24.98; 3. Derartu Tulu (Ethiopia) 30:26.42; 4. Werknesh Kidane (Ethiopia) 30:28.30; 5. Lornah Kiplagat (Netherlands) 30:31.92; 6. Sun Yingjie (China) 30:54.37; 7. Jelena Prokopcuka (Latvia) 31:04.10; 8. Lidiya Grigoryeva (Russia) 31:04.62; 9. Lucy Wangui (Kenya) 31:05.90; 10. Helena Javornik (Slovenia) 31:06.63; 11. Mihaela Botezan (Romania) 31:11.24; 12. Kathy Butler (Britain) 31:41.13; 13. Megumi Tanaka (Japan) 31:42.18; 14. Marie Davenport (Ireland) 31:50.49; 15. Sabrina Mockenhaupt (Germany) 32:00.85; 16. Alice Timbilil (Kenya) 32:12.57; 17. Sally Barsosio (Kenya) 32:14.00; 18. Harumi Hiroyama (Japan) 32:15.12; 19. Elva Dryer (US) 32:18.16; 20. Aniko Kalovics (Hungary) 32:21.47; 21. Kate O'Neill (US) 32:24.04; 22. Galina Bogomolova (Russia) 32:25.10; 23. Adriana Fernandez (Mexico) 32:29.57; 24. Benita Johnson (Australia) 32:32.01; 25. Haley Mcgregor (Australia) 33:35.27; 26. Kayoko Fukushi (Japan) 33:48.66; 27. Natalia Cherches (Moldova) 34:04.97; Did not finish: Souad Ait Salem (Algeria), Natalya Berkut (Ukraine), Paula Radcliffe (Britain), Fernanda Ribeiro (Portugal).

Women's long jump: 1. Tatyana Lebedeva (Russia) 7.07 metres; 2. Irina Simagina (Russia) 7.05; 3. Tatiana Kotova (Russia) 7.05, 4. Bronwyn Thompson (Australia) 6.96; 5. Marion Jones (US) 6.85; 6. Anju Bobby George (India) 6.83; 7. Jade Johnson (Britain) 6.80; 8. Tunde Vaszi (Hungary) 6.73; 9. Bianca Kappler (Germany) 6.66; 10. Grace Upshaw (US) 6.64; 11. Carolina Kluft (Sweden) 6.63; 12. Yelena Kochsheyeva (Kazakhstan) 6.53.-Agencies