HOLM THIRD

Sweden were hoping for another golden day after Carolina Kluft's home triumph in the heptathlon on Tuesday and were pinning all their hopes on Stefan Holm, the Olympic high jump champion.

The shaven-headed Holm could go no higher than 2.34 metres and finished third. Russian Andrey Silnov, the only man to clear 2.36 metres on the night, won ahead of Czech Tomas Janku, who cleared 2.34 like Holm.

Another Olympic champion suffered on Wednesday. Fani Halkia of Greece missed out on the gold in the women's 400 metres hurdles fnal.

Halkia had victory in sight until Russian Yevgeniya Isakova outsprinted her to win in a personal best 53.93 seconds. Halkia took the silver in 54.02 seconds while Ukraine's Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova won the bronze in 54.55.

Not all the top names cracked under pressure, Olympic long jump champion Tatyana Lebedeva living up to her reputation as a formidable competitor in the triple jump.

A final effort at 15.15 metres gave the 30-year-old Russian victory over Hrisopiyi Devetzi of Greece.

Lebedeva has won many battles over the years but sounded as excited as a teenager after this one.

"I risked it all on that last jump and it paid off," she said. "It was a great fight."