BEIJING--Without Chinese Liu Xiang, Cuban Dayron Robles reaffirmed his dominance in the men's 110m hurdles with a commanding victory to win the Olympic title here on Thursday.
The 21-year-old showed no nerves, surged ahead after rising from the blocks and never relinquished his position to come home a meter clear of the field in 12.93 seconds, the second fastest time in Olympic history but 0.06 seconds slower than his own world record.
"I feel very good because I am the Olympic champion, it's always been my dream. I felt calm before going into the competition. I was confident about how things would go," said Robles.
Cuba's Dayron Robles (front) celebrates as he crosses the finish line ahead of David Payne of the US (L) to win the men's 110m hurdles final at the National Stadium as part of the 2008
Beijing Olympic Games on August 21, 2008. Cuba's Dayron Robles won ahead of US athletes David Payne and David Oliver. [Agencies]
"I've learnt a lot over the past couple of years, and my technique has improved significantly this year."
He was the only runner to go under 13 seconds.
American duo finished second and third as David Payne, 2007 world championships bronze medalist, took the silver at 13.17 with a season's best, and American champion David Oliver bronze at 13.18.
"It feels really good. To come in two and three is good for me," said Oliver, the only hurdler to defeat Robles outdoors this season, "Dayron is a great 110m hurdler, probably one of the best of all time. For me and David, to come in right behind him is an honor."
"It's all about getting medals, and I got one," he added.
Robles, who was repeating the success of his compatriot Anier Garcia from the 2000 Games, sailed over the hurdles while behind him Payne and Oliver had difficulty in not clipping them.
While Robles, who timed the fastest time in the semi-finals of a modest 13.12 seconds, eased over the line and tapped his head with both hands, the two Americans held onto their placings.
"I wanted to stay up with Robles but he left us, but as long as I was able to stay in front of the pack, I felt fine," said Payne, commenting that he had ran the season's best, "He's a very fast starter, and I knew that I had to stay with him or at least stay up with him, and stay ahead of the rest of the pack.
"He's amazing and could not be stopped. I'm going to be working my hardest to get my stuff together. He's a phenomenon, but one day very soon, I'm going to go with him and hopefully beat him."
But the Cuban still shook head after saw the results on the scoreboard, showing dissatisfaction in his performance.
It's a chance to see perhaps the best hurdler in history make an assault on his own world record, 12.87, which he set in June, breaking Chinese Liu Xiang's 2006 mark by 0.01.
The anticipation of seeing defending champion Liu try to defend his Olympic title made the final the toughest ticket to come by in the Bird's Nest stadium and even at the whole Games.
But after the withdrawal of Liu with an Achilles tendon injury, and America's Terrence Trammell, two-time Olympic silver medalist in Sydney and Athens, could not finish his preliminary race because of a hamstring strain, the spotlight on the 110-meter hurdles got a whole lot dimmer.
"I love China and Liu Xiang is my friend. I know he is very big in China," said Robles.
Even before the Thursday's final, there were wishful audience chanting "Go! Liu Xiang!"
