Torres hurts knee, makes wrong jump
The sound of the starting gun for the 200m run on the tracks must have caught the Filipina off-balance as she instantly dropped to her knees as she took off.
She felt excruciating pain in her knees as she struggled toward the sand bed on her first attempt.
She did a 4.27.
“She was feeling pain from her knees to the lower thigh,” said Philippine official Joey Romasanta, who witnessed the incident.
“It must have been due to the starting gun because she was grimacing in pain and holding her knee the moment the gun barked.”
Unable to compose herself when her turn to make the second jump came, Torres, 27, did 5.94m, still way below her personal best of 6.63m she established in winning the silver in the Asian Championships in Inchun, South Korea in 2005.
Summoning her last ounce of courage and ignoring the pain, she took her final attempt, making it at 6.17m.
“I just ignored the pain because I wanted to do a good jump despite the injury,” said Torres. “I didn’t’ like any of my critics saying I didn’t try.”
That heroic effort was good enough for 35th overall among 39 participants, but it could sideline her for a long while.
Dr. Orson Odulio, member of the medical staff of the Philippine delegation, said Torres strained her ilio-tibial band muscle.
He said she was given a cold compress but the risk she took in forcing the jump will probably require her to undergo physical therapy when she gets back to
Brittney Reese topped the qualifying round with a jump of 6.87m and leads the 12-woman qualifier into tomorrow’s final round. The last qualifier made the cut-off mark at 6.60m.
The event ended the Olympic stint of the two-member Philippine athletic team. Henry Dagmil also failed to get past the qualifying round earlier, his effort of 7.58 m good for 18th place in Group B and overall. The event was won by Irving Aranda Saldino of
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