Two overwhelming US favorites failed in the final meters of their quest for Olympic gold Tuesday, offering center stage to the unlikeliest of winners at the Bird's Nest. Sanya Richards, premiering a fashionable track suit for what should have been her finest moment, could not produce her finishing kick, and lost a seemingly certain title to Christine Ohuruogu of Britain 30 meters from the line in the 400 meters. Shericka Williams also outran Richards in the closing stages, adding one more twist to the Jamaican domination of the Americans in the short races. For Ohuruogu, it was not only a late comeback on Tuesday. The 2007 world champion was only recently cleared to compete in Beijing after winning an appeal against a lifetime Olympic ban for missing three doping tests in 2005-06. So even if Richards took a huge lead and the Briton was only fourth, this woman was not for giving up and came back against all odds. Lolo Jones, another great US athlete with star appeal, had the 100m hurdles race clinched with two jumps left, but she smashed her spike into the hurdle and stumbled to the line, crossing with scream of outrage before crumbling to the track in misery. This time, it was another American profiting when Dawn Harper took over to win in a personal best 12.54 seconds. Harper was beside herself, waving the flag with the biggest of smiles while Jones lay curled up on the track, a mess of misery. A virtual unknown outside her country, she only qualified by .007 seconds over the fourth-place finisher in the US trials. Just as unlikely, Andrey Silnov of Russia won the men's high jump. He only got into the games based on a late jump-off in Monaco last month. Now, he cleared 2.36 meters without a miss to secure the gold. Germaine Mason of Britain picked up silver at 2.34. In the men's 1,500, Rashid Ramzi gave Bahrain its first ever Olympic track and field gold medal. The Moroccan-born Ramzi, the 2005 world champion over 800 and 1,500 meters, won in 3:32.94. Kipruto Kiprop of Kenya took silver in 3:33.11 and Nicholas Willis of New Zealand got the bronze in 3:34.16. Estonia's Gerd Kanter won the men's discus with a best throw of 68.82 meters and then celebrated with a mimic of 100m champion Usain Bolt. Poland's Piotr Malachowski took the silver medal with his top effort of 67.82m and Lithuania's Virgilijus Alekna, the gold medal winner in the last two Games, had to settle for bronze this time with 67.79. The disastrous finishes for Jones and Richards nowhere near compared with Usain Bolt's breeze through the games. The 100 world record holder took another stroll around the Bird's Nest, running the 200m fast enough to keep his challenge for a golden triple going at the expense of his American challengers. The Jamaicans also dominated US runners in the women's 200 semifinals, raising hopes an unlikely sweep will be clinched during the weekend relays. Jamaica is already leading the United States 2-0 with both 100 titles, and Bolt is the overwhelming favorite for Wednesday's 200 final. It seems the only question is whether he will break Michael Johnson's world record. And on Wednesday, he promised to run through to the line. “I'm just going to run my heart out and hope for the best,” Bolt said. – AP __
