Jamieson takes heptathlon gold

27 July 2002

Australia takes gold and silver in heptathlon as Jane Jamieson and Kylie Wheeler triumph.

Jane Jamieson's consistency across all seven events earned her heptathlon gold

England's Kelly Sotherton sped to victory in the last event of the heptahlon - the 800 metres - scoring 903 points but that was not enough to affect the medals outcome.

Jane Jamieson, whose multi-talented consistency had kept her in the head of the pack throughout the event, scored 814 points to give her a victory total of 6059 points.

Aussie compatriot Kylie Wheeler (5962) pushed Jamieson all the way but had to be content with silver despite closing the gap between Jamieson and herself with an 800 metre run scoring 885 points.

Margaret Simpson (5906) of Ghana ran an 800 metre race earning 812 points to seal the bronze medal position.

A victorious Jamieson said: “It’s about time. Kylie was actually in the lead after the long jump so I thought I’d better go and do something special in the javelin. I came through with a 48 metre throw. Then, leading into the 800m, we’d done all our calculations and knew what we had to do.”

“I’ve had a lot of doubters who thought I really shouldn’t be in the team and a lot of people who didn’t believe in me. Then I’ve had so many other people believing in me and standing by me. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to do it.”