With five to qualify from each of the three first round heats, there was
little pressure on the favourites. Drut (14.04) eased through his race,
while Foster ran the fastest of the day with 13.68. After Foster won the
first semi-final in 13.45 from Munkelt (13.48), Casañas then ran 13.34,
well clear of Drut (13.49) and Davenport (13.55).
Drut got an electrifying start in the final, and was slightly ahead of
the rest, led by Davenport, by the first hurdle, with Casañas recovering
from a poor start. The top five were all in with a chance of gold until
the eighth hurdle, where Drut got away from Davenport, and Casañas
went past Munkelt, then Foster, before catching Davenport at the 10th
hurdle. Drut led by half a metre at the 10th, and held 30cm of that lead
at the finish. France had expected Drut to win, and he performed bril-
liantly under that pressure, as did Davenport, competing in his fourth
straight Olympics, a remarkable record.
FRA
CUB
USA
GDR
URS
GBR
AUS
ITA
PUR
MAL
SEN
ANT
GRE
MEX
BAH
CAN
KUW
