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One hundredth of a second away from a medal

The Gibraltar 4x100m relay team lived through one of the toughest decisions that athletics officials had to make on the last session of the athletics programme.
It was a excision which local supporters were left disappointed and in which local officials believed that hosting the games might have been enough to push a decision against them.
A delayed baton change had seen local observers bemoan the fact gIbraltar had fallen behind in the initial stages. Once again Jessy Franco powered his way to heroics as he climbed from sixth in the eight man field to finish level with the top three.
A photo-finish decision was to be taken. Gibraltar was judged to have finished fourth by a one hundredth of a second, what looked like Gibraltar having pipped it was judged to be too late. The 4x 100m record was nevertheless broken with a 42.04 nearly a whole second faster than the previous record.
The men were not to do that well in the 4x400m falling well behind from the led g pack.
It was the women’s 8-0m which provided some confidence for the future in women’s athletics. Shauna Mann who had only been running in the seniors this past year finished sixth. Though not the best of finishing positions in a final her performance showed she had progressed significantly and would soon be more than capable of competing and even a higher level.
The drama of the day came when in the 4x400m athletes collapsed from the heat. The women’s race had the most dramatic scenes when five females lay on the ground after finishing requiring medical assistance to recuperate. ‘It’s the heat and humidity’ said one official. The 5pm sun, during an overcast day in parts yet the sun beating down over the venue meant that many visiting athletes who had given their all could not coped beyond the finishing line.
The runners were all to recuperate and walk away unaided, however the scenes already had local official making notes of what they would require in the future to prevent sucgvscenes

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