Miller dives for gold
Shaunae Miller gave everything she had to grab a stunning 400m gold in Rio.
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The 22-year-old Bahamian, a silver medallist in the world championships in Beijing a year ago, went one better tonight denying favourite Allyson Felix in a dramatic photo finish.
A visibly spent Miller dived across the line to win in 49.44secs with United States heroine Felix just 0.07secs behind.
She took silver, a seventh Olympic medal of a remarkable career, with Shericka Jackson of Jamaica coming in third to take bronze.
Felix had hoped to be bidding for a 200m and 400m double in Rio, but she failed to qualify for the United States team over the shorter distance after struggling with an ankle injury earlier in the season.
And her bid for a first Olympic 400m crown, after gold in the 200m, 4x100m and twice in the 4x400m also fell short.
The fall to the track for Miller was the finish to a personal best of 49.44 seconds in the event, just 0.07 seconds ahead of Felix’s time of 49.51. But the desperate move for gold has come under fire from many who question the fairness of an athlete leaving their feet to surge to the finish line.
There’s no question of the legality of Miller’s dive. The rules say a runner can go to the ground across the finish line as long as he or she doesn’t impede another in the process. Even though Miller appeared to slightly cross into the lane to her left, it happened after the finish line and she didn’t impede any other runners
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Miller also clearly won the photo finish which measures from a runner’s torso.
— The Sun