Cuba and Colombia Classify in Olympic 800 Meter Semifinals

The Cuban Rose Mary Almanza (2:01.19 minutes) and the Colombian Rosibel Garcia (2:01.30) were the only Latin Americans to reach the 800 meter semifinals at the 2.012 London Olympics.

Pamela Jelimo, from Kenya, winner of the event at the 2.008 Beijing games (1:54.87), established a comfortable lead in the fourth eliminatory heat, at 2:00.54.

Almanza arrived fourth at the finish line in the first eliminatory race, won by the U.S, Alysia Jhonson Montano (2:00.47), fourth at the World-2011 Daegu event and the best record of the day.

In that same heat, the South African, 21, Caster Semenya, world champion at Berlin 2.009 (1:55.45) and silver medalist at Daegu (1:56.35), came in second, at 2:00.71 minutes.