Olympics: Defending Champion Rutherford Scrapes Into Final

RIO DE JANEIRO, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Augst,2016) - Britain's defending Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford was left "frustrated" after scraping into the men's final with a desperate third jump after two no-marks on Friday. After twice failing to register a distance, he was left with a nerve-racking third and final jump to make the 12-strong final line-up. Rutherford proceeded to notch up 7.90m to qualify 10th for the final.

China's Wang Jianan led the rankings with a season's best of 8.24m. The Briton's presence in the final means that, form permitting, there remains the chance of a repeat of 2012's "Super Saturday", when he, Mo Farah (10,000m) and Jessica Ennis-Hill (heptathlon) all won golds for Britain in a heady 30-minute period of the opening Saturday's action at the London Olympics.

"I definitely wasn't as stressed as my family back home!" Rutherford said. "You draw on all the experiences you've had.

7.90m might not be good but it was just a question of making the final. These are stressful events at times for exactly this scenario." Sweden's Michel Torneus, American Mike Hartfield and China's Gao Xinglong all failed to make it through to the final, something not lost on Rutherford. "Big Names went out of the competition yet again and I was very nearly one of them," the Briton said, adding: "I'll be very different tomorrow. "I think I can do something. "Going into tomorrow it's a completely different competition."