Emirati middle distance runner Betlhem Desalegn bemoaned a common cold after her below-par performance in the women’s 1500m.
Desalegn arrived at the Games with hopes of producing a competitive time after running a personal best of 4min 08.87sec last month, but struggled home in 4:14.07 in the Olympic Stadium to finish 14th out of 15 runners in Heat 3.
In a fast heat her personal best would not even have been quick enough to see her through, as Turkey’s Gamze Bulut won in 4:06.69.
The 20-year-old admitted after the race that she had expected to run faster, but put her sub-standard showing down to the ill effects of a cold.
“I’m disappointed. I have been suffering from a cold but this is the biggest competition I’ve ever been in and I was hoping for a better performance,” Desalegn said. “I am happy to have had the experience of performing on this stage but I was expecting to do more.”
Although the young Emirati runner was less than happy with her performance in London, she certainly did not disgrace herself. Indeed had she run in Heat 2, Desalegn would have come extremely close to making the next round, with American Jennifer Simpson snagging the sixth and final automatic qualifying spot from that race in 4:13.81.
Easily the slowest of the three heats, British athlete Lisa Dobriskey won a blanket finish in 4:13.32, with Moroccan Siham Hilali taking second just two-hundredths of a second behind.
Dobriskey will be joined in the semi-finals by fellow British athletes Hannah England and Laura Weightman after they both also came through their heats.
England found herself boxed in for long periods of Heat 1 but found enough room to sprint home and clinch fifth in 4:05.73, behind Abeba Aregawi who won in 4:04.55. Weightman came sixth in Heat 3, ahead of Desalegn, with a time of 4:07.29 just behind Bahrain’s Mimi Belete.
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