Campbell-Brown Cragg advance Spearmon disqualified

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Former Arkansas Razorbacks Veronica Campbell-Brown, Alistair Cragg and Wallace Spearmon competed in rounds of their respective events at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China on Wednesday.

NBC and its affiliates will broadcast portions of today’s track and field events throughout the day on Wednesday.

Cragg ran the prelims of the 5,000 meters on Wednesday. He clocked a time of 13:38.57 to finish sixth in his heat. A two-time Olympian, he advanced to Saturday’s final in the event based on time.

Campbell-Brown ran the semifinals of the 200 meters on Wednesday. A three-time Olympian, she advanced to Thursday’s finals after winning her semifinal heat. She ran a time of 22.19.

Spearmon experienced a life-long dream fulfilled and then had it shattered as quick as it came. Initially declared the bronze medal winner with a time of 19.95, he was later deemed disqualified for taking too many steps on the line.

After celebrating his bronze, Spearmon was informed that he had been disqualified for a lane violation, running on the inside line. After filing a protest, Team USA officials viewed film of the race and accepted the disqualification when they realized Spearmon had indeed committed a violation.

Spearmon’s disqualification moved American Shawn Crawford to bronze and American Walter Dix to fourth. Team USA officials also believed that the film showed second-place Churandy Martina, former UTEP All-American and member of Team Netherlands Antilles, committing a similar violation, and they protested Martina’s finish on those grounds.

After again reviewing the tape, meet officials disqualified Martina as well. That left a final finishing order of Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (19.30), Crawford (19.96) and Dix (19.98).

For complete results of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, visit www.iaaf.org. For up-to-date information about the Razorbacks in Beijing, visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.