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Teenager wins 400m, Isinbayeva gets bronze
Teenager Kirani James powered to gold in the men's 400m to win Grenada's first Olympic medal of any colour and break the Americans' 28-year stranglehold on the event.
Teenager Kirani James powered to gold in the men's 400m to win Grenada's first Olympic medal of any colour and break the Americans' 28-year stranglehold on the event.
The 19-year-old world champion dominated the field to win in 43.94sec, with Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic, also 19, taking silver in 44.46sec while Trinidad and Tobago's Lalonde Gordon took bronze on Monday night.
He also became the first non-US athlete to dip under 44 seconds.
Suhr halts Isinbayeva
American Jennifer Suhr spoiled the script by winning gold in the women's pole vault, denying Yelena Isinbayeva her third successive title.
Suhr, silver medallist behind the Russian world record holder in Beijing, cleared 4.75 for victory. Cuba's Yarisley Silva took the silver with the same height while Isinbayeva had to settle for bronze with a best of 4.70.
Isinbayeva lacked her usual authority in the event, failing the first attempt at her opening height of 4.55. After the 30-year-old hit the mat for the last time, she got up with a big smile on her face, waved to the crowd and blew a kiss to the camera.
Sobbing Sanchez
An emotional Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic proved that age is no barrier to track success when he stormed to a second men's 400m hurdles title, eight years after winning in Athens.
The 34-year-old, world champion in 2001 and 2003 and known as "Super Felix" after going unbeaten in 43 successive races between 2001 and 2004, clocked 47.63 seconds to take an assured victory.
After crossing the line he removed a picture from his name label of his late grandmother Lillian, who passed away during the Beijing Games in 2008.
"I just wanted to make her proud so I've got her name on my spikes," he said. "The day she died in Beijing, it broke my heart. That's why I ran with the picture close to my heart."
Zaripova wins steeplechase
World champion Yuliya Zaripova won the women's 3,000 metres steeplechase, becoming just the second champion in the event.
The 26-year-old Russian led from the start at a rainy Olympic Stadium and stormed across the finish line well clear of the field in a personal best time of nine minutes 6.72 seconds. Habiba Ghribi of Tunisia won silver in 9:08.37 and Ethiopia's Sofia Assefa took bronze in 9:09.84.
Defending champion Gulnara Galkina of Russia, who won gold in the event's first appearance at the Olympics four years ago, pulled up injured and failed to finish.
