JANA Pittman cruised into the final of the 400m hurdles at the Athens Olympics this morning, finishing an impressive second in her semi-final.
Pittman, who had surgery on an injured right knee just a fortnight ago, ran from lane three behind Russian star Yuliya Pechenkina, her great rival on the European circuit, who won in 53.31sec. Pittman clocked 54.05sec.
American Sheena Johnson was third in 54.32sec, with teammate Brenda Taylor grabbing the fourth qualifying spot in 55.02sec. si
While Pittman easily ran over Johnson, thought to be one of her biggest threats to gold prior to the injury suffered in Zurich, the Australian world champion wasn't completely happy with her performance, ruing a "mistake" on the fourth hurdle.
"I made a fatal error at the fourth hurdle," she said, still able to use it as motivation for the final.
"If I can get that close to her (Pechenkina) making a big mistake then ... (who knows?)" she said.
Pittman admitted her knee had "blown up quite badly" following her first competitive run on Saturday since the surgery.
"Last night at about 8.30(pm) it went boom. It blew up quite badly, well not badly, but enough for us to ice-pack it for quite a while," she said.
"But yet again I didn't feel it in my race so I'm really not worried about it."
Pittman now has until Thursday (AEST) to recover from this semi-final, and said the rest since the operation has had an ironically positive effect on her fitness.
"I was able to run the last 100 hard and didn't feel too tired," she said.
"Yuliya is a gun athlete and if I wasn't able to run (the event) then I always said I wanted her to win it.
Pechenkina was mightily impressive in winning the heat, cruising through the first 250 metres from the outside lanes before bombing home over the final three hurdles in impressive fashion.
Pittman, whose mistake had left her needing to push through the last 100m hard, said she won't make the same error again.
"I had to work, especially after losing ground over that fourth hurdle," she said. "But I'll be fresh as anything and ready to run (in the final). That won't happen in the final."
In the second semi-final, Greece's Fani Chalkia was roared home by the parochial supporters inside the Olympic Stadium, winning by daylight in a time of 52.77sec.
Also through to the final from that heat are Ionela Manolache of Romania (53.32sec), Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova of Ukraine (53.37sec) and Ekaterina Bikert of Russia (53.79sec).
I can't believe she made it. Two weeks ago she was sobbing her heart out, wiuth a 1% of even maing it to Athens after he knee collapsed, then she went to London for key-hole surgery and was given a 50% of making it to the Games. After a week of therapy, they said she had a 75% chance of running and then to get through it all, win her heat and make the semi's is amazing.
I hope she can win the final, that would just make this such an amazing story. Good Luck Jana!
OLYMPIC 400m hurdles finalist Jana Pittman today said she was considering switching to the flat race Cathy Freeman won in Sydney four years ago.
"It has definitely crossed my mind that next season I wouldn't mind running the 400 flat," Pittman said today after finishing a disappointing fifth in the final at Athens just 17 days after undergoing knee surgery.
"It would be a little bit less pressure on the knee and I'd enjoy something different because I've had quite an emotional rollercoaster ride.
"I'm sure (coach) Phil (King) will be the boss of the outcome."
Changing events would lead to Pittman contesting the race made famous in Australia by Freeman's dream victory over 400m at the Sydney Olympics.
That was mirrored this morning by Greece's Fani Halkia in Pittman's final today in Athens, when the local girl crushed the field to win the gold in a time of 52.82sec.
Halkia has shocked everyone at this championship, having ignored the European scene all season before bursting onto the track to run the fastest time in the world this year in the semi-finals (52.77sec) and cleaning up gold in the final.
"She did an awesome job," Pittman said of the former high-jumping journalist.
"It's a beautiful story for her to win in front of her home crowd."
As for the victorious Greek, apparently, she just had a feeling.
"I felt I would win when I came into the stadium," she said, draped in her national flag after the race.
When the deafening cries of "Hellas, Hellas" filled the warm evening air, her heart would have lifted still further.
Halkia wasted no time in the race, and neither in making a subtle dig against the likes of Australian Olympic legend Raelene Boyle, who yesterday voiced suspicions on the champion's form by describing it as "too goo to be true".
Halkia said: "The Greek soul is enough by itself. We don't need anything else. We were born winners."
"If you know anything about athletics and training, if you know what people can achieve through hard work, then yes, I think you can achieve what I did.
"I have been in excellent form in the last three months, therefore my progress is logical.
As for Pittman, the final proved too big a hurdle for her much publicised right knee to clear.
The 21-year-old's body seized up through the final 150m and she struggled over the line in 53.92sec.
Romania's Ionela Tirlea-Manolache finished second in 53.38sec while bronze went to the Ukraine's Tetiana Tereshchuk-Antipov, who clocked 53.44sec.
Despite a fortnight of drama over her knee injury, Pittman refused to make excuses for the defeat as she left the track.
"I don't need to make any excuses," she said. "Those girls were great out there today and they were better than me on the day, so I can only say I'll have to come back hungry for next year."
If that is over the flat lap, Pittman has much work ahead if she is to challenge the likes of new Olympic champion Tonique Williams-Darling and every other athlete in that particular final.
The Bahamian clocked a rapid 49.41sec to succeed Freeman as the Olympic one-lap queen, and still has the fastest time this year of 49.15sec in her kit bag. That was recorded in Paris last month.
Pittman, whose best this season on the flat is 50.93sec, would not have made the final in Athens with anything less than 50.65sec.
She has never been under 50 seconds, her best of 50.43sec recorded in 2003, although was a promising junior over the flat, winning the world junior title in 2000 as part of a brilliant 400m flat-hurdles double.
Comiserations to Jana for not winning. But she did so well just to get into the finals that we're not really fussed. It would have been awesome if she had won it, but there's always next time.
Congratulations to the Greek lady who won, it was a great race, and for her to win like that in front of her home crowd was amazing. The crowd went absolutely nuts and you could see she was quite overwhelmed. Another beautiful Olympic moment.
Poor Perdita Felicien of Canada... I went to school with her for a year; she's a good girl and it's too bad that she didn't get to finish, win or lose...
Still, I know she'll bounce back in the future... I just don't know what that future holds for her in 4 years.
08-23-2004 08:40 AM
