OLYMPICS LONDON 2012: Aldama falls short as Grabarz makes final

By Ben Burrows, Sportsbeat, London 2012

GREAT Britain’s Yamile Aldama failed to bring home an Olympic medal after her sixth round jump of 14.48 metres was only good enough for fifth place in the London 2012 triple jump final.

GUTTED: Great Britain's Yamile Aldama finished sixth in the women's triple jump Olympic final

The 39-year-old, who is in her fourth Games, after competing for both Cuba and Sudan previously, couldn’t reproduce her season’s best of 14.82m, which would have been good enough for silver.

Kazakhstan’s Olga Rypakova leapt to gold in a new season’s best distance of 14.98m while Caterine Ibarguen of Colombia grabbed silver with Olha Saladuha of Ukraine completed the podium

Meanwhile, Robbie Grabarz secured himself a place in the Olympic high jump final with a solid jump of 2.29m to top his qualification group.

The 24-year-old Newham and Essex Beagles’ athlete, who became the first British high jumper to win the European title since 1950 in Helsinki earlier this year, will hope to put himself in the medal shake-up on Tuesday.

Alex Smith finished in 12th in the hammer final as Hungarian Krisztian Pars won with a 80.59m throw.

The Sale Harrier could only manage 72.87m in the second round but will have been delighted to have made it into the final in his debut Games .

"It was such a tough selection process with so much pressure that when I got here I didn't really feel any pressure," said Smith.

"I wasn't overwhelmed out there and while it was a goal to make the final, I didn't really expect to.

"I would have liked to have finished a few places higher, if I'd thrown what I did in qualifying I would have been in the top ten, which would have been a nice thing to say.

"My coach said I looked like I belong here, which is really nice. This does so much for my motivation.

“I want to go back to training, have a good and injury free winter and start working towards the World Championships in Moscow next year."

© Sportsbeat 2012