Saturday, August 4, 2012, in London as part of the 30th Olympic Games, Marlena [race number 2030], who had qualified yesterday with a time of 51.98, today participated in semi-finals in the 3rd race (series 3) at corridor #9 alongside 7 other athletes, Mcconnell Lee (52.23 during the qualifying) of Great Britain, Omotosho Omolara (52.11) of Nigeria, Trotter DeeDee (50.87) of the United States, Krivoshapka Antonina (50.75) of the Russian Federation, Pyhyda Nataliya (51.09) of Ukraine, Williams-Mills Novlene (50.88) of the Jamaica and Rodriguez Carol (52.19) of Puerto Rico.

After this race, Marlena Wesh, has finished in 8th and last position in its series, and is therefore not qualified for the finals to be held this Sunday, August 5. She made a time of 52.49 seconds [her best time for the season was 51.23 seconds].

The 8 athletes qualified have made a time of :

Serie 1

RICHARDS-ROSS Sanya (50.07) United States of America

OHURUOGU Christine (50.22) Great Britain

WHYTE Rosemarie (50.98) Jamaica

Serie 2

MONTSHO Amantle (50.15) Botswana

MCCORORY Francena (50.19) United States of America

Serie 3

KRIVOSHAPKA Antonina (49.81) Russian Federation

TROTTER DeeDee (49.87) United States of America

WILLIAMS-MILLS Novlene (49.91) Jamaica

The world record in this discipline is 47.60 seconds (Germany) and the Olympic record 48.25 seconds (France)...

Our Haitian young athlete, will also participate in the 200 meters at the Olympic Stadium on August 6.

"That Haiti is present at the Olympic Games was important to us. It's symbolic [...] It shows that Haiti recover from the earthquake [...] We're here to show that we starts to recover [...] It was very difficult to qualify athletes for London, but we did it," had declared the Prime Minister Lamothe, during his visit to London.

Competition format of 400 m

The competition starts with heats. The number of heats and the number of athletes progressing to the next round depends on the number of athletes competing. In each heat the fastest athletes go through, as well as a set number of the fastest losers across all the heats. The following rounds run on the same format, until eight athletes are through to compete in the final.

The most dramatic error for spectators, and arguably the most cruel for athletes, is the false start. Once in the set position on the blocks, any athlete moves off the starting blocks either before the gun has fired or within 0.10 sec of the gun firing is disqualified. Athletes can also be penalised for running out of their lane or obstructing another athlete.

Learn more about Marlena Wesh :

Marlena Wesh, was born February 16, 1991, in Virginia. She is studying psychology at Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA, competed in the women's 400 meters at the Olympic Stadium, her personal record in this discipline and best time of the season is 51.23 seconds.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-6285-haiti-sports-marlena-wesh-qualified-for-the-semi-finals-of-400-meters.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-6275-haiti-sports-in-london-4-haitian-athletes-make-us-dream-of-a-podium.html

BF/ HaitiLibre