Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

BEIJING — One Wildcat in and one Wildcat out at the Beijing Olympic Games.

University of Kentucky seniors Mikel Thomas and Jose Acevedo made their Olympic debuts Monday morning (Sunday night EDT) in National Stadium, also known as Bird’s Nest.

Thomas, running for Trinidad and Tobago in the 110-meter hurdles, Thomas finished sixth in his heat. Only the top four from each of six heats automatically advanced, but the eight next-fastest also moved on. Thomas made it through, based on his time of 13.69 seconds. That ranked fourth among the “eight next-fastest” and 27th overall.

U.S. Trials champion David Oliver won the heat with the best time of the day, 13.30, followed by European champion Jackson Quinonez of Spain in 13.41. David Payne of the U.S. won his heat in 13.42.

Two hurdlers of note did not finish: Terrence Trammell, silver-medalist at the last two Olympics and at two World Championships, pulled up after one barrier due to a hamstring injury. Defending Olympic champion Liu Xiang, who came in with hamstring injuries, took only a few steps in his heat, which was called back because of a false start. Liu did not line up for the restart.

Acevedo, competing for Venezuela, drew a 200-meter heat that included the heavy favorite, Usain Bolt of Jamaica.

Acevedo did not get out of the blocks well. He finished fifth in his heat and tied for 42nd overall in 21.06. Trinidad and Tobago’s Rondell Sorillo won the heat in 20.58. Bolt, who set a world record in winning Saturday’s 100-meter finals, ran easily and finished second in 20.64.

Fastest time of the day went to Brian Dzingai of Zimbabwe in 20.25.

All three Americans advanced: Wallace Spearmon (20.46), 2004 gold-medalist Shawn Crawford (20.61) and Walter Dix (20.77).

This entry was posted on August 18, 2008 at 12:45 am and is filed under Jose Acevedo, Mikel Thomas, Olympics, Track and field, University of Kentucky, Usain Bolt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.