Devonish shoulders blame as Craig cracks under pressure

MARLON DEVONISH threw a consoling arm around Craig Pickering as Britain's defence of their Olympic sprint relay title ended in premature failure last night.

Anchor man Pickering started running too early as he prepared to exchange with Devonish, the only surviving member of the quartet that took gold in Athens.

When he finally grasped the baton, he was outside the check mark and Britain were disqualified in the semi-finals.

"Craig should not blame himself, it's a team event and we all take full responsibility," said Devonish.

"I've really no idea what happened. Maybe I was running too slowly, maybe Craig went too fast. Either way no individual is to blame.

"We're all bitterly disappointed because we so badly wanted to defend our title. There was so much expectation on us because of Athens and we put pressure on ourselves as well.

"We don't come here to play games, we come here to win."

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Pickering, in his first Olympics, fought back the tears as the disqualification was confirmed. British team officials considered an appeal until TV evidence proved irrefutable.

"I feel like I've cost the country a medal and let everyone down," said Pickering.

"The other guys will say it isn't but it was totally my fault and I've got to accept responsibility."

UK Athletics have invested heavily in their sprint relay programme, with Michael Khmel exclusively employed as a relay coach.

The team looked well drilled during intensive training sessions in Macau and spent the weekend together at Loughborough practicing before flying out to the Far East.

But all the prior planning couldn't prevent a poor performance as wet conditions made life difficult.

Britain weren't alone in finding it tough - the highly-fancied American team dropped the baton, meaning a nightmare end to a nightmare Olympics for world champion Tyson Gay.

"The team camaraderie has been great," added Devonish.

"Everyone was focused and the whole thing felt good in training and practice, it felt like we had something special going on.

"The wet conditions were not ideal but there are no excuses, it's the same for everyone. We've worked so hard and we're just truly gutted.

"I didn't know that the Americans had gone out and it doesn't really matter now anyway."

The disqualification ends a disappointing third Olympic for Coventry Godiva's Devonish.

The 32-year old failed to qualify for the 100m and didn't progress beyond the semi-final, for which he only qualified as the fastest loser.

"You come to the Olympics to win medals - to go home without one is very hard to take," he added.

JAMES TONEY in Beijing