Newmarket's Goldie Sayers narrowly missed out on an Olympic Games medal in the women's javelin final at Beijing. The 26-year-old finished fourth, just 0.

Carl Marston

Newmarket's Goldie Sayers narrowly missed out on an Olympic Games medal in the women's javelin final at Beijing. The 26-year-old finished fourth, just 0.38m behind bronze medallist Christina Obergfoll of Germany.

Sayers threw a personal best and British record of 65.75m in the first round and was again over 65 metres in the fourth round, but could not quite find the extra distance required.

Barbora Spotakova, of the Czech Republic, snatched gold with the penultimate throw of the competition, a personal best of 71.42m taking her ahead of long-time leader Maria Abakumova of Russia.

Sayers said: “To coin a phrase from Dean Macey, I'm kind of sick as a dog. No excuses. My goal at the start of the year was to break the British record and throw a PB in the Olympic final. I couldn't have left anymore energy or mental strength on that track.

“I believe I can throw a lot further. If that doesn't make me train harder over the winter I don't know what will.”