Discus: Night to forget for Faumuina

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Beatrice Faumuina threw the worst she can remember in years last night, crashing out of the Olympic discus final in depressing style.

The 25-year-old Aucklander looked tentative from the start and was eliminated from the final after two meagre throws and a foul.

"It was ugly from the beginning to the end ... just disappointing really," said Faumuina.

She needed to make the top eight with her first three throws to qualify for another three attempts and a shot at a medal.

Instead, she was in 10th place after a first round 58.03m, slipped back to 13th and last with a foul on her second, and only improved slightly with her last throw of 58.69m. She ended up 12th.

"There were technical faults all over the place otherwise I would still be out there now but I'm going home," she said.

Faumuina had qualified for the final with a throw of 61.33m, just over seven metres short of her personal best.

Faumuina believed last night was possibly her worst performance since the last Olympics when she threw 58.40m and failed to make the final.

That effort inspired her to push on for the 1997 world championships, where she won with a throw of 66.82m.

If she needed inspiration again, she got plenty of it last night.

"You bet. I've got a point to prove not only to the people out there, but to myself."

She could not explain why New Zealand track and field athletes had so far failed at these Games.

"All of us are going to go home and have a look at a lot of things."

In the end, the winning throw was within Faumuina's capability at the peak of her powers.

Belarus thrower Ellina Zvereva's gold medal heave was 68.40m.

That was 12cm less than Faumuina's personal best. Zvereva had been top qualifier with 64.81m in the preliminary round.

The silver went to Anastasia Kelesidou, of Greece, with 65.71m.

Irina Yatchenko scored a bronze to match the medal won by her husband in the hammer throw on Monday.

Meanwhile, to cap off New Zealand's abysmal day in the field, Chantal Brunner came 22nd in the long jump, missing the top 12 final.

"It wasn't a horrible day at the office but it wasn't the extraordinary performance that you need to make it through," she said of her three leaps, the best 6.42m.

"I'm pretty philosophical about it because lots of people with personal bests much better than me didn't make it.

"I hope the punters respect that it was an honest effort."

Brunner, who made the final in Atlanta, said she believed New Zealand's selection requirements needed looking at.

She was concerned that she had been pushed into peaking too often just to make the team, rather than being left to prepare for the Olympics.

"I had to jump two A standards and a B," she said.

"I've been jumping the best I ever have but there's a limit to how much your body can do.

"Athletics New Zealand have increasingly made the qualifying criteria more and more rigorous.

"You can be mentally prepared but they still make you jump through hoops.

"I hope the selectors reconsider the really tough selection policies they have put in place."

Brunner said she would concentrate on sprinting this season because the qualifying mark for the world championships had risen to 6.75m.