Discus: Faumuina makes the final

By EUGENE BINGHAM

The air was cold, the ground announcer kept incorrectly calling an Australian the Commonwealth champion, and try as she might, the discus wasn't going as far as she wanted.

But Beatrice Faumuina had one of the most successful days of her career yesterday.

The Auckland thrower landed in her first Olympic final after a frustrating morning in which she thought she had failed.

With big names of the sport crashing out around her, Faumuina left the circle after her third attempt yesterday believing she, too, was finished.

"The plan was to come out and throw 63m so when I didn't, I thought, 'it's all over,"' she said.

Then her name flashed up on the board as the ninth of 12 qualifiers for Wednesday night's final, and Faumuina jumped for joy. Kind of.

"It was more like a big deep breath and letting my heart come back to normal."

She is the first New Zealand track and field athlete to make a final at these Olympics.

Faumuina was ranked ninth of the 32 competitors, with 61.33m, a first-round throw that she was not able to better.

To make the final, competitors had to throw 63m or finish in the top 12. But in a lacklustre morning of throwing, only three women managed to hurl the discus beyond the 63m mark.

Ellina Zvereva, of Belarus, ranked fourth in the world this year, was the top qualifier with 64.81m. The world No 1, Romanian Nicoleta Grasu, failed to make the final after a disappointing effort of 58.87m, 10m below her best this year, while the world champion, German Franka Dietzsch, clung on to the 12th spot only with a meagre 60.74m throw.

Faumuina could not explain the lacklustre performances of the world's best, or her own inability to make the 63m mark.

"Who would have thought that was going to happen?"

Though it was a chilly 15 deg C, she could not blame that, and there was no wind to speak of either.

"You could find that it was just because it was the Olympics and a qualifying round. It's kind of like a double-whammy."

With 90,000 people packed in to watch the morning's track and field programme, Faumuina soaked up the atmosphere.

"It rocked. That stadium was just going off. I've never been in that kind of capacity crowd before."

There was just one glitch. Though Faumuina is the reigning Commonwealth champion, the ground announcer kept giving that honour to 1990 Commonwealth gold medallist Lisa-Marie Vizaniari.

If Faumuina minded, she wasn't showing it.

"I was too busy being on my own planet."

She and Vizaniari hugged after the competition, the only two Southern Hemisphere women to have made it through.

"Now it's bonus territory - I've never made the Olympic final," said Faumuina.

With a world ranking of 10th, Faumuina would probably have to return to the kind of form she found when she won the 1997 world championship to make the medal dais. But if Monday is anything to judge by, over 63m would be enough - and Faumuina has already thrown 65m this season.