Rendell makes amends for Manchester

Australia’s Stuart Rendell has made put the disappointment of the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth games behind him by taking gold in the men’s hammer throw at the MCG tonight.

Rendell, who won this event in the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur, was favourite in Manchester but, as he put it himself, “bombed” and failed to take a medal.

But in front of his home crowd, the Canberra school teacher threw a Games record 77.53 metres in the second round, and despite fouling his last four efforts, it was enough to see off the rest of the field.

Canadian James Steacy came in second, with a final round throw of 74.75 metres which knocked South African Christiaan Harmse down to bronze.

Rendell said his excellent Games build up is what put him ahead of the rest.

“The last six weeks for me have been perfect,” he said. “The preperation has been awesome. I knew I was going to have to try my best – Christiaan (Harmse) is awesome, the (former) Commonwealth Games holder, everything.”

When asked how he felt after his big throw, he said he believed he’d take home the gold.

“I felt confident, but up until Chris (Harmse) had his last throw in round six, I was still focussed on doing the job, and the competition went quite fast so before I knew it was over,” the two-time Commonwealth gold medallist said.

“I wasn’t worried about everyone else was doing, I was just trying to worry about what I was doing and get on track.”

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