Usain Bolt opened his European track season here Friday by clocking 10.04sec in the 100m after what he dubbed a “very bad day at the starting blocks”. The double sprint gold medallist from the 2008 Beijing Games overcame a dreadful start at the second time of asking and into a -0.8m/s headwind and grimaced his way from the 50m mark, the long-legged Jamaican opening up a lead on his rivals to the line. Veteran Kim Collins of St Kitts and St Nevis came second in 10.19sec with American Darivs Patton third in 10.22. “I don't really know what went on,” said Bolt, who added that he hadn't run as badly as this one since an outing in Canada back in 2009. “At the start, I didn't feel as explosive as I normally feel. If you don't get that first start, well that's where my power comes from for the transition and everything comes together. That's reality, a very bad day at the starting blocks. I don't know exactly where it went wrong. “I was looking forward to coming here and doing a good time. I guess it's just one of those days.” Bolt said he had not managed to get the crucial “drive” phase of his race from 50 metres going as he liked it. Briton Dwain Chambers, who has served a drugs ban and is now cleared to race in the Olympics after the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) overturned a British Olympic Association bylaw that banned doping cheats for life, recorded 10.28sec, missing the Olympic qualification time of 10.18. Defending Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo fired a broadside at South African pretender Caster Semenya with a convincing victory in the women's 800m. Jelimo, also the newly-crowned world indoor champion but who missed almost three years of competition after her Beijing Games triumph through injury, dominated the race to win in 1min 58.49sec, with Semenya in second in 2:00.80. Pistorius fails Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius failed to secure a place at the London Games after he clocked a disappointing 47.66secs in the 400m. Pistorius, known as the “Blade Runner,” needs to run 45.30 or faster once more before June 30 to earn a trip to London in line with the South Africa athletics federation Olympic criteria. The South African said he had “no excuse. To run faster, that's what I have to do.” He plans to run another able-bodied meet in Hengelo, Netherlands Sunday before traveling for two other events in the United States.
