Damian Warner places 5th in decathlon at Olympic Games

LONDON, UK - Damian Warner of London, Ont., finished fifth in the decathlon with a personal best of 8442 points in only his tenth full decathlon. Warner registered six new personal bests over the ten events including two in his last five events of competition today.

Warner's performance puts him second on the all-time Canadian list behind Michael Smith's Canadian record score of 8626 points. "I knew I was capable of putting up these scores I learned a lot from the world championships last year, I was a little star struck but now these guys are just competitors." He adds, "I was a little nervous going into the 1500m I just wanted to finish strong and with the best possible result. This was an awesome experience, I've learned so much about myself here and now I have to put it in practice."

Elizabeth Gleadle of Vancouver, B.C., placed 12th overall in the women's javelin with a best throw of 58.78-metres. Gleadle who trains out of Lethbridge, Alta., under coach Larry Steinke was the first Canadian woman to make an Olympic javelin final. "It didn't go how I wanted, obviously it was my goal to make the Olympic team, then the final and once there of course I wanted to do better than I did today."    

In the women's 800-metres semi final Jessica Smith of North Vancouver, B.C., finished seventh in her heat stopping the clock at 2:01.90, she did not advance to the final. "I knew I could hang in the mix with them. Coming into a race like this seasonal bests and personal bests don't matter anything can happen." She adds, "I put my best effort forward, it was a dream come true to make the Olympics, making the semis was the cherry on top."

The men's 4x100-metre relay team will line up tomorrow in heat 1 at 19:45 local time (14:45 eastern time). 

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-AC-  

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