Olympics round-up

SLOW LANE INTO HISTORY: Middle distance runner Sarah Attar made history yesterday, becoming the first female athlete to represent Saudi Arabia in Olympics track and field but limped home a distant last in her heat. Attar, one of two women sent to the London Games by Saudi Arabia, timed 2min 44.95sec in heat six of round one of the 800m, nearly 44 seconds behind Kenya’s Janeth Busienei (2:01.04). Wearing a white hood, long-sleeved green top and black leggings, the 19-year-old student described appearing in the Olympics as “an incredible experience.”

FARAH EDGES CLOSER TO DOUBLE: Newly-crowned Olympic 10,000m champion Mo Farah remained on course for a distance double after safely negotiating his passage into the final of the 5,000m yesterday. Farah, 29, timed 13min 26.00sec in finishing third in his heat of the 12-and-a-half lap race won by Ethiopian-born Azeri Hayle Ibrahimov. Kenyans Isiah Koech and 2008 bronze medallist Edwin Soi shared early pace-making duties, before Australian Collis Birmingham and Ibrahimov took over.

HOME OFFER FOR YANG: A South Korean construction firm said yesterday it would give Olympic hero Yang Hak-Seon an apartment after he overcame grinding poverty to win the country’s first gold in artistic gymnastics. Yang, 19, triumphed Monday in the men’s vault final, and told reporters in London he wants to buy a home for his parents with the cash rewards from the state and sport organisations. His family currently live in a shabby converted greenhouse. SM Group Woobang, based in the southwestern city of Gwangju, has now offered them a 116 square-metre (1,248 sq feet) apartment in the city worth around 230 million won ($204,000).

SPRINTER’S SPIKES FOUND: Australian sprinter Andrew McCabe was left red-faced this week after British police went on the hunt for his “stolen” running spikes – only for them to turn up in another of his bags. One of McCabe’s bags, which also contained personal items including his national kit and mobile phone, was stolen from a bench besides the running track as he practised at Tonbridge School in Kent on Friday. He thought his spikes had gone too – but in fact, they hadn’t gone very far at all. McCabe, 21, is due to compete in the 4x100m relay tomorrow.

RUSSIA MAKE BASKETBALL SFs: Russia will have the chance to play for an Olympic medal for the first time since the break-up of the Soviet Union after beating Lithuania 83-74 yesterday to reach the men’s basketball semi-finals. Andrei Kirilenko scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Timofey Mozgov added 17 points to spark Russia into a match-up tomorrow against Spain who beat France 66-59.

OBARA OVERPOWERS STADNIK: Japan’s Hitomi Obara won the Olympic women’s 48kg freestyle wrestling gold medal after beating Azerbaijan’s Mariya Stadnik 3-1 in the final at London’s Excel Arena last night. Canada’s Carol Huynh, the 2008 Beijing champion who lost to Obara in the semi-finals, won one of the bronze medals with the other going to Clarissa Chun, of the United States.