Robbie's high jump bronze is crumb of comfort after setting sights on gold
By NEIL WILSON
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High jumper Robbie Grabarz took a third share of a bronze medal in the Olympic Stadium but it will be little more than a consolation prize to him.
Grabarz wanted Britain’s fifth medal of the athletics competition to be gold because he came into the competition as the stadium record-holder.
He set it first at 2.26metres at the test event in May on a cold day and improved it to 2.29 in the qualifying round.
Medal man: Robbie Grabarz flies the flag after winning a bronze medal in the high jump
Up and over: Robbie Grabarz had high hopes in the high jump
So he knew what he describes as a ‘very fast track’ was to his liking and, like the rest of his countrymen this summer, was well accustomed to the chill in the evening air.
Grabarz ignored the opening height of 2.20, cleared 2.25 and 2.29 at the first attempts and so was leading at that point.
Meanwhile, his American friend Jesse Williams, the world champion, went out at 2.29 and world leader Ivan Ukhov had a failure.
Eight survived to attempt 2.33 but there Grabarz ran into difficulties. Like five others he failed the new height, extremely narrowly on his third attempt.
Grabarz has been jumping for years without appearing on the sport’s radar, clearing low bars with high jumps but not succeeding when the bar moved up to serious heights.
Share the joy: Robbie Grabarz and two other athletes took home a bronze medal
His mind was everywhere but where it needed to be when he competed. Last year he performed so badly that he lost his National Lottery support.
‘I thought about quitting,’ he had said at Team GB’s Portugal training camp.
‘I love classic cars and I got an opportunity to go and work in that industry, and I could have genuinely gone that day and done something else that I’m really passionate about.
‘In a way, it was nice to be put in that situation and made to think, “Where does your heart actually lie?” I chose athletics.’
It helped that coach Fuzz Ahmed, a professional actor, looked him in the eye and asked him what he wanted to do.
‘He did challenge me but he didn’t scare me and that got the reaction he wanted. He knew then I was prepared to step up to the mark, not flee.’
Gutted: Robbie Grabarz's hopes of a gold medal were dashed
And the winner is: Russian Ivan Ukhov took the gold medal
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2185036/London-2012-Olympics-Robbie-Grabarz-wins-bronze.html#ixzz22u5AyYUA
