SOUTH AFRICA PISTORIUS MISS A FINAL

Pistorius as South African relay team reach final following appeal after 

The jury of appeal decided to give the extra ninth lane to South Africa - silver medalists at the last world championships - for Friday's final.

On a hectic morning, it was the second reversal of fortunes for the South African. First, the South African team never made it to the third section of the 4x400-meter relay in the opening heat after Mogawane crashed and dislocated his shoulder, leaving Pistorius waiting in the changeover zone for a baton that never came.

Pistorius stood on the track waiting to run third in the relay but Ofentse Mogawane collided with Kenyan runner Vincent Kilu about 90 meters from the finish of the second section and fell.

What happened there? Pistorius didn't even get the chance to run in the 4x400m relay on Thursday

Pistorius waited to see if his teammate would continue before walking off and watching the rest of the race from beside the finish line.

'I was standing there and I took my eyes off the screen and kept them on the straight and obviously just as I took them off it must have happened,' said Pistorius, who reached the semi-finals of the individual event on his historic Olympic debut.

'He's not the biggest of guys and initially I thought he was maybe pushed in behind someone and then I just carried on looking and he didn't come out. It's really tough at the moment. I feel sorry for my team-mates, they're a phenomenal group of guys.

'It's just really disappointing for us because we came off a second place at the world champs last year and a national record and we've got more or less the same team.'

It seemed to be an anguished finish for the man known as the 'Blade Runner,' who became the first amputee runner to compete in Olympic track and field competition when he ran in the individual 400 earlier in the week. He reached the semi-finals in that event but finished last in his heat.

Waiting in vain: Pistorius never received the baton

Jack Green lived up to his promise to show what he is capable of with a baton in his hand by helping Britain reach the final of the men's 4x400m relay.

Green was devastated to bow out of his specialist event, the 400m hurdles, in the semi-finals after hitting the third hurdle and crashing to the track.

Over to you: Jack Green hands the baton to Martyn Rooney

The 20-year-old was determined to prove firstly his fitness and then show he deserved his place on the relay team, doing so with a storming finish to the third leg to give anchor runner Martyn Rooney a narrow lead.

Rooney held that lead until easing up just before the line, allowing Trinidad and Tobago to take first place, although both teams were given the same time of three minutes 00.38 seconds to qualify automatically for the final.

The Bahamas and the United States were also given the same time of 2mins 58.87secs in the second semi-final to qualify quickest, but any faint hopes of Usain Bolt appearing in the 4x400m final were ended when Jamaican team-mate Jermaine Gonzales pulled up injured on the third leg.

Green, whose training partner and world 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene could feature in the final, said: 'I am gutted about my individual event, but it was nice to come here and kind of make up for that.

'I've only half made up for it, I've got to run well tomorrow as well if I'm in the team. I'd like to think I've done enough to be in the team, I put us in a very good place, but I'm not in charge of the team.

'But it felt good, it felt quite controlled, felt like there's a bit more there. I didn't want to go off crazy, especially with the anger I've got in me still from the hurdles.

'I think if the relay was a single individual event that would be my event, it's much better than the hurdles, I haven't got anything to trip over. I think that was just a hint of what I can do.'

Well done, lads: Nigel Levine, Jack Green, Martyn Rooney, and Conrad Williams celebrate after reaching the