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2008 Summer Olympics

Cherry Fourth In Closest Olympic Hurdles Finals Ever


Tampa’s Damu Cherry came as close as you can to winning an Olympic medal Tuesday night in the finals of the women’s 100-meter hurdles at the Beijing Games.

In the closest Olympic women’s hurdles final ever—just two one hundredths of a second separated second through sixth place—Cherry wound up fourth in 12.65 seconds. She missed both the bronze and silver medal by a hundredth of a second.

The official results were not posted until several minutes after the race while officials sorted out the final order with the finish line photo.

American Dawn Harper, third at last month’s U.S. Olympic track and field trials, was the surprise winner in a season-best time of 12.54. That one was clear. But after that, who finished where became difficult to determine as race officials were forced to extend the timing to thousandths of a second to determine place order.

Australian national record holder, Sally McLellan, who didn’t even make the finals of last year’s world championships, took the silver medal at 12.64. A hundredth of a second behind her was Canada’s Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, who was eliminated in the first round of the world championships, was awarded the bronze, also at 12.64. Then came Cherry at 12.65.

But the photo finish didn’t stop with Cherry in fourth. They also needed the picture from the high-speed camera to decide fifth and sixth place. Experienced Jamaicans Delloreen Ennis-London and Bridgitte Foster-Hylton took those spots at 12.65 and 12.66, respectively. Pre-race favorite Lolo Jones of the United States, the U.S. trials winner, ran 12.72 for seventh place.

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