Alwyn Myburgh — the pick of the South African 400m hurdles crop after edging defending Olympic champion Angelo Taylor and runner-up Hadi soua An Al Somaily out of the Athens Olympic finals in a nail-biting semifinal on Tuesday night — failed to win any medals in the final on Thursday night.
Wearing a reminder of his painful failure four years ago, Felix Sanchez redeemed himself on Thursday to win the 400m hurdles — giving the Dominican Republic their first-ever athletics Olympic gold medal.
A two-time world champion, Sanchez hasn’t lost a race since Sydney and never looked threatened on Thursday, winning gold in 47,63 seconds, the fastest in the world this year.
Sanchez, who extended his unbeaten streak over hurdles to 43 dating back to July 2001, didn’t have his customary explosive start after being called for a false start, as had major rival James Carter of the United States.
Since failing to make the semifinals at the 2000 Games, Sanchez has been wearing a flashing red wrist band, a souvenir from the closing ceremony in Sydney, at every race in which he competes.
Danny McFarlane of Jamaica got silver at 48,11. Naman Keita of France won bronze at 48,26.
Special Report: Olympics 2004