BEIJING, Aug 21 (Bernama) -- While rain could not stop Russia's Olga Kaniskina from carving the Olympics record in the women's 20km walk Thursday, Malaysia's Yuan Yu Fang did not get to see the finish line.The veteran walker dropped out after 12km due to stomach pains which hit her soon after the start.
"I took some ice water this morning, maybe it was because of that. It got so uncomfortable that I couldn't continue any more," said the 32-year-old of her dismal exit from her third Olympics.
In Athens, she was 35th and was aiming for at least 15th spot this time in a field of 48 entries.
After the first two kilometres, Yu Fang was in 21st place and a distant 35th after four kilometres. She passed the sixth kilometre mark in 40th position and by the middle of the race, she was trailing 46th in the last group.
Kaniskina only let her emotions show as she strode to the finish to celebrate a Games record of 1:26:31s, surpassing the previous mark of 1:29:05s set by Wang Liping of China in Sydney in 2000.
The rain and the sodden track had left questions as to whether the Russian champion could demolish the three-year-old world record of 1:25:41s belonging to compatriot Olimpiada Ivanova.
Yu Fang had qualified for the Olympics with her season's best of 1:32:48s, outside her national record of 1:32:25s.
The 15th place in the race today went to Germany's Sabine Zimmer who clocked 1:30:19s.
Yu Fang was the last of three field athletes entered by Malaysia. Both woman pole vaulter Roslinda Samsu and man high jumper Lee Hup Wei failed to advance from the qualifying rounds.
-- BERNAMA
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