GREG GETS DETHRONED
DEFENDING CHAMPION GIVES IT HIS ALL BUT IS DEFEATED BY AMERICAN
LONG JUMP
GREG RUTHERFORD did his best to conceal his disappointment. After finishing third behind winner Jeff Henderson of the United States and Luvo Manyonga of South Africa, he was gracious and magnanimous in defeat as he tried to remain upbeat.
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Yet his face and body language were at odds with his words. The 29-year-old had arrived in Rio as Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth champion in the form of his life with an injury-free buildup behind him. So settling for bronze was, by his high standards, not ideal.
“You can probably tell by my face, I’m not exactly the happiest at the moment,” he said, voicing his frustration. “I come into these competitions to win them and I felt pretty good after qualification, even though I scraped through.”
Rutherford had fouled his first two attempts in qualifying before jumping 7.90m in a high-pressure, all-or-nothing final-round attempt, where he made the final as the 10th best of 12 athletes.
Greg Rutherford: found 8.29m good enough for third on his title defence