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Cuba's Dayron Robles won ahead of US athletes David Payne and David Oliver. [Agencies]
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Cuba's world record holder Dayron Robles won the 110m hurdles Olympic title Thursday, clocking 12.93 seconds -- the second fastest time in Olympic history.
The 21-year-old beat home two Americans, 2007 world bronze medalist David Payne (13.17sec) and American champion David Oliver (13.18sec).
Robles showed no nerves and was never challenged after rising from the blocks, making the absence of defending champion Liu Xiang even more marked -- and to a lesser extent two-time silver medalist Terrence Trammell.
Liu pulled out injured just before the first heats of the event on Monday.
"I'm ecstatic that I am Olympic champion. It's always been my dream.” said Robles, who has dominated the event this season in the absence of Liu.
"It's disappointing Liu Xiang is not here." Robles said. "When he's there, you can feel his presence. When he's on the track there's always a good time at the end of the race. We athletes never wish an injury upon others, all I can say is I salute him and I hope he'll get back soon.
"I am sure he will come back and that we will have a really good rivalry next year in the World Championships (in Berlin).
"For me it is special to be mentioned in the same breath as (Anier) Garcia, for he was a legendary athlete and inspired me in taking up the hurdles." Robles repeated the success of Cuban Garcia, who won the event in the Sydney Games in 2000.
He sailed effortlessly over the hurdles in the race while behind him Payne and Oliver had difficulty in not clipping them.
Even as Robles eased over the line the two Americans held onto their placings though Oliver, the only man to beat Robles this season, had to withstand a challenge from France's 2005 world champion Ladji Doucoure.
Payne was delighted to have added Olympic silver to his world bronze.
"What can I say? Persistence pays off," he said. "I feel great. I feel great. I wasn't 100 percent this year. I had a lot of setbacks.
"I wanted to stay up with Robles but he left us behind." Payne was full of praise for the young Cuban.
"He's amazing and could not be stopped. He is a phenomenon and I am just going to have to pull all my stuff together. One day very soon, I'm going to go with him and hopefully beat him," said the 26-year-old, who was experiencing his first major global championships.
Oliver, though, insisted he was satisfied with taking the bronze.
"I'm very happy with that. There were no surprises out there," said the 26-year-old.
"I got an Olympic medal so no complaints."
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(Agencies)
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上周四的奥运会男子110米栏决赛中，世界纪录保持者、古巴名将戴龙•罗伯斯以12秒93的成绩摘得冠军，这一成绩仅次于奥运历史上该项目的最好成绩。
两位美国选手，07年世锦赛铜牌得主戴维•佩恩（成绩为13秒17）和奥运选拔赛冠军大卫•奥立佛（成绩为13秒18）都未能赶上21岁的罗伯斯。
比赛时，罗伯斯显得非常放松，在跨过几个栏架之后，其领先优势更是无人能及。卫冕冠军刘翔以及两届银牌得主特伦斯•特拉梅尔的缺席使这场比赛失色不少。
刘翔在本周一第一轮预赛前就因伤退出了比赛。
刘翔的缺席使罗伯斯在本赛季的比赛中独占鳌头，他说：“成为奥运冠军，我太高兴了，这是我一直以来的梦想。”
罗伯斯表示：“很遗憾，刘翔没能参加比赛。他在场时，你能感觉到他的存在。如果他在跑道上，比赛的结尾部分肯定精彩绝伦。对我们运动员来说，谁都不希望有人受伤，我现在只能说我对刘翔表示敬意，希望他早日回到赛场。”
“我相信他很快就会回来的。在明年的柏林世锦赛上我们要真正好好较量一回。”
再次提到2000年悉尼奥运会上获得该项冠军的古巴选手阿尼尔•加西亚时，罗伯斯说：“对我来说，能和阿尼尔•加西亚相提并论实在是太荣幸了。他是一个传奇的运动员，是他激励我踏入跨栏这个领域的。”
在比赛中，他轻松地跨过了所有栏架，而身后的佩恩和奥立佛跨栏则显得有些吃力。
在罗伯斯轻松地跑到终点以后，两位美国选手最终还是保住了各自的位置。不过法国选手、2005年世锦赛冠军杜库雷对奥利弗造成一定的威胁。奥利弗是本赛季唯一可以与罗伯斯抗衡的一位选手。
佩恩对世锦赛铜牌加奥运银牌的成绩感到非常高兴。
他说：“我该说些什么呢？坚持就是胜利。我感觉好极了。今年我并没有完全发挥出自己的水平。我曾经几番失利。”
佩恩对这位年轻的古巴选手赞赏有加：“我想紧紧跟住罗伯斯，结果却被他甩在了后面。”
他还说：“他简直太让人吃惊了，没人能挡住他的步伐。他是个奇迹，我拼尽了全力也没能追上他。希望在不久的将来，我可以赶上他，更希望能超过他。” 26岁的佩恩这是第一次参加世界大赛。
而铜牌得主奥利弗却对自己的成绩表示满意。
26岁的奥利弗说：“我对这个成绩很满意，这样的结果是意料之中的。”
“我获得了一枚奥运奖牌，所以，没什么好遗憾的。”
（实习生吴昭文 英语点津Helen编辑） |
