Beenamol crashes out as Freeman runs fastest

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Sydney: K M Beenamol's brave run in the women's 400 metres came to an end as she was eliminated in the semi-finals this evening.

Drawn in lane eight for the second time in three days, Beenamol finished eighth and last in a race won by home favourite Cathy Freeman. Beenamolclocked 52.04 seconds, which was slightly better than the last place finisher in the other semi-final, Nova Peris Kneebone, who timed 52.19s.

The 25-year-old Kerala girl ran a brave a race by making a spirited attempt to go all out in the first 300 metres, but finally when she came into the straight it was clear that she was all spent out.

The strain of having run three high quality races in three days was showing. But from her point of view, it was a great show to have reached the semi-finals.

Beenamol's race was dominated by Cathy Freeman of Australia, whose 50.01 seconds made her the favourite for the gold. She was followed by Ana Guevara of Mexico in 50.11s in the same semi-final. Falilat Ogunkoya of Nigeria in 50.18s and Donna Fraser of Britain in 50.21s were the other qualifiers from the semi-final.

In the other semi-final, Lorraine Graham of Jamaica led the field in 50.28s, with another Briton Katharine Merry coming in second in 50.32s and Heide Seyerling of South Africa was third in 51.06. Olga Kotlyarova of Russia came in fourth to take the last final berth in 51.21 seconds.

India Abroad News Service