Daegu drama!

DAEGU, South Korea, (Reuters) – Cuban hurdler Dayron  Robles was stripped of gold and glory at the world athletics  championships yesterday in a twist every bit as dramatic as  Usain Bolt’s disqualification from the blue riband 100 metres  sprint the night before.

COSTLY BUMP! A bump of arch rival Liu Xiang, left, cost Cuban Dayton Robles his gold medal at the World Championships yesterday.

The muscular world record-holder was disqualified after a  physical track tussle in the 110 metres hurdles final with  China’s Liu Xiang.

Robles bumped Liu in an epic race between the three fastest  hurdlers of all time — America’s David Oliver finished fifth —  and crossed the line first ahead of Jason Richardson.

The Chinese protested, however, and Richardson was awarded  gold by the referee. A Cuban counter-appeal was rejected by a  jury, and Richardson held on to gold with Liu winning silver and  Britain’s Andy Turner lifted to bronze.

Robles left the stadium after his appeal failed without  making any comment.

DREAM DASHED! Allyson Felix’s dream of becoming the first woman to win the 200 and the 400m at the World Championships was dashed by Amantle Montsho, left, yesterday.

“Robles hit me twice, at the ninth hurdle he pulled at me,  but it wasn’t intentional,” former Olympic champion Liu told  reporters. “If not for the incident I would be gold medallist.

“I am good friends with Robles. What I like is a happy camp  — I don’t know what to say.”

Richardson said: “The reaction is bittersweet. I am  disappointed to have won on a technicality. I wish that under  different circumstances he could keep the medal but rules are  rules.

“Anything can happen in track and field if you just do your  best and stay in your lane.”

The floodlit drama was exactly what the 13th world  championships needed to dispel a gloom which, like the  ever-present mist on Daegu’s mountains, had lingered around the  stadium after the shock of Bolt losing his 100 metres crown.

A victim of the one-false-start-and-you’re-out rule, Bolt  was disqualified on Sunday night and his Jamaican understudy  Yohan Blake crowned champion in a major anti-climax.

FASTEST MAN

USA QUEEN! Carmelita Jeter wins the 100m yesterday beating Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell Brown and Trinidad’s Kelly Ann Baptiste into second and third respectively. (Photos IAAF website)

The world’s fastest man took his time responding to the  disqualification, waiting around 18 hours to make any statement.

When he did respond publicly, Bolt said very little. But  what was there to say about a perhaps overly harsh rule which is  sure to cause plenty of soul-searching among the sport’s highest  echelons?

“Firstly, I would like to congratulate my team mate Yohan  Blake and the other athletes who won the medals,” a statement  released by Bolt’s management team read. “Of course I am  extremely disappointed not to have had the chance to defend my  title due to the false start.

“However, I have to move on now as there is no point to  dwell on the past.”

Allyson Felix will also need to move on as her dreams of  completing an unprecedented women’s 200-400m double at a worlds  disappeared when she was beaten in the 400 final by Amantle  Montsho.

Montsho could not wipe the smile from her face after landing  Botswana’s first gold at a world championships.

“I know Allyson is a good athlete and she is fast… I felt  when she was coming, but I managed to hold on,” Montsho said.

Felix was sanguine in defeat.

“On the home straight I definitely felt I still had a  chance,” she said.

“I gave it all and tried to move my arms. I cannot be too  disappointed with my silver medal. I still have the 200 metres  and the relays coming up.”

Carmelita Jeter put a smile back on the faces of Team USA in  the night’s last final, racing to gold in the women’s 100  metres.

She finished in 10.90 seconds, beating Jamaica’s Veronica  Campbell-Brown by 0.07 seconds with Trinidadian Kelly-Ann  Baptiste third.

“I have been working really very, very hard. And today it  paid off,” Jeter told reporters. “My coach showed me that I was  ready to get the gold medal, to stop the Jamaican predominance  in the sprint.”

In field events, Koji Murofushi earned a surprise gold medal  in the hammer with a throw of 81.24 metres to give Japan its  first title of the championships, while Poland’s Pawel  Wojciechowski leapt to gold in the pole vault, ahead of Cuban  Lazara Borges.

Delighted New Zealander Valerie Adams took her third  successive women’s shot put world title.

“I simply smashed it out,” she said.