BEIJING — Denver East grad David Oliver captured a bronze medal today in the Olympic 110-meter hurdles, finishing .25 of a second behind world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba.
David Payne of the U.S. got the silver medal on a day when both U.S. 400-meter relay teams dropped the batons.
“Me and David went out there and held up our end of the bargain,” Oliver said. “Everything went well, got a medal out of it. They only pass out three, every four years, so to be one of the people who gets one of them is definitely an accomplishment.”
Payne edged Oliver for the silver by .01 of a second. Oliver may have lost a fraction of a second when he and Ladji Doucoure of France brushed each other at the seventh hurdle.
“That’s the best I had on this day,” Oliver said. “A lot of people would love to switch places with me. I think I ran the best race I could have run, other than that little incident around (hurdle) seveen. Doucoure and I kind of came together a little bit.”
