Bronze for Devonish but Sanders and Turner miss out

Published 26 Aug 2009 10:00 0 Comments

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Athletics

MARLON Devonish shrugged off criticism about Great Britain's conduct after winning a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay at the World Athletics Championships.

Devonish, who failed to reach the 200m final earlier in the week, ran the third leg and drove the team towards a time of 38.02 seconds, behind Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.

Their cause was aided by the Americans' disqualification for an illegal changeover in the heats, following a controversial British protest.

But Devonish, who trains at the Thames Valley Athletics Centre in Eton, preferred to focus on the quartet's impressive progress.

"Was our conduct unsporting? That's a question you need to ask to our management," said Devonish, who was joined by Simeon Williamson, Tyrone Edgar and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey in the successful team.

"It would have been nice to have the Americans there because there is always some good banter between us and them - and maybe it takes a shine off it a bit. Unfortunately, they got disqualified but we are very happy with our medal.

"I've won a lot of medals but I'm very proud of the guys and the way they performed out there. It's great to share this experience and come away with a bronze.

"We were very focused coming into it and we kept the discipline going all the way through to the final.

"If I was being hyper-critical, my changeover could have been a little quicker and a little better but it's all about the medals. It doesn't matter what time it was that we ran.

"And this is a massive platform for us to go forward now and win more. We need to make sure we take the next step towards 2012.

"We stayed calm and we took care of business. It could have gone totally pear-shaped because there are so many variables in the relay but it's great to come away with a medal."

Meanwhile, Nicola Sanders did her best to make up for her individual 400m disappointment by joining Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu in the relay.

Sanders and co. comfortably reached the final but despite a season's best of 3.25.16 on Sunday the quartet, that also included Liz McConnell and Vicky Barr, had to settle for fourth as the United States raced to victory.

"We knew it was going to be hard but we're pleased with our time," she said.

"It's just a real shame we didn't leave Berlin with a medal."

Laura Turner also enjoyed relay success, running the lead off leg as the 4x100m team reached the final as one of two fastest losers.

But there was no happy ending as the quartet finished sixth, with Jamaica storming through to the gold to continue their sprint domination.

Nigel Levine travelled with the British squad as part of the 4x400m relay team but his Berlin adventure did not get out of the blocks.

Aviva has been the team behind UK Athletics for over a decade, supporting the Aviva GB & NI Team both at home and abroad. Please visit aviva.co.uk/athletics to find out more.

This article appeared in Royal Borough Observer 28 Aug 09

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