OLYMPICS / Barcelona 1992: Athletics: Gunnell realises her vision of gold

SALLY Gunnell is hoping for a quiet wedding this autumn. She'll be lucky.

Her superbly disciplined performance in the 400 metres hurdles here last night, which saw her become the first British woman athlete to win an Olympic track gold since Ann Packer in 1964, has also assured her of an intense period of demand from a British public who will revel in the success of this acceptable Essex girl, who is as different from her gaudy American rival, Sandra Farmer-Patrick, as milk from champagne.

There was something positively wholesome about the triumph of this farmer's daughter from Chigwell, which was witnessed by mum, dad, her brother and her fiance, Jon Bigg. Will success spoil Sally Gunnell? Not till the cows come home.

Farmer-Patrick went out hard from the start - 'if I had not, I would not even have won the silver' - and held the advantage as the runners went down the back straight. But a hesitation at the seventh hurdle allowed Gunnell, who had begun conservatively, to cut the distance between them with a superior technique learned from her years as a high hurdler.

Turning into the home straight, they rose to the eighth hurdle together. By the ninth hurdle, Gunnell was edging ahead. By the 10th she was a metre clear; by the finish the distance was four metres. As she strode out towards the line, the realisation that she would reach it first transformed the expression on her face from a grimace to a grin. Pain turned to gain. And as she became champion, her arms flew up with the grace of a ballerina.

'It was the strongest and fastest I have ever felt,' she said. 'The second half of my race is always the strongest. I knew that once I got to the eighth hurdle level there was no way I was going to let it slip then.

'I wouldn't say it was easy by any means. There was a lot of concentration out there. After Tokyo, I was even more determined.'

The Tokyo experience - where she stuttered over the last two hurdles and gave the Soviet athlete, Tatyana Ledovskaya, the opportunity to take the gold - is something that has lived with her over the last 10 months. It never looked remotely like being repeated last night. After receiving her medal, she stood waving her bouquet. Radiant as a bride.

Kenya's sense of discontent following the controversy of the 10,000 metres was wiped away in a superbly testing 800 metres final which saw William Tanui, a 28-year-old clerk in the Kenyan Air Force, take wing in the last 20 metres to win gold at the expense of the exhausted duo of his fellow countryman, Nixon Kiprotich, and Johnny Gray, winner of the US trials in the world's fastest 1992 time of 1min 42.80sec.

Behind them, in fifth place, came Britain's 20-year-old new kid on the block, Curtis Robb. It was an achievement which matched and perhaps bettered Steve Cram's Olympic performance at the same age in finishing eighth in the 1980 1500m final.

Gray, as is his wont, took the lead from the start and went through the bell in 49.99sec, with Kiprotich at his shoulder. The same position obtained as they turned into the finishing straight.

Gray, who has never been able to translate his talent into rewards at the big championships, began to roll agonisingly; Kiprotich, merely decelerating more slowly, edged ahead, and then Tanui, the shoulder of his red singlet falling down one arm, came through on the outside to confound them both.

In his first major international championship final, Robb did not do a single foolish or negative thing. He kept clear of trouble, and switched boldly into the outside lane as they went into the second, eventually passing Mark Everett, of the United States, who had suffered an early clash with Andrea Benvenuti, of Italy, before finishing in 1.45.57.

'The pressure lifted me,' he said. 'If you can't perform in an Olympic Games, you can't perform anywhere. I think there's a lot more to come. I'm going to do some really hard training. You are going to see a new Curtis Robb.'

His father's bet on him to win the Olympic 1,500m at the next Games in Atlanta - pounds 200 at 500-1 - could yet prove one of the great bets of our time. Quincy Watts, a 22-year- old built like one of the larger cars to come out of his home city of Detroit, powered home in the 400m final to set a new Olympic record of 43.50sec.

Behind him, David Grindley, of Wigan, finished an exhausted but elated figure in sixth, with a time of 44.75, never having expected to reach a final at the age of 19. He leaves Barcelona with huge hopes of 1996, and an abiding memory of the huge figure of Watts running away from him in the lane outside.

In the women's 400 metres final, Marie-Jose Perec, of France, added the Olympic title to the one she had won at last year's world championships, flowing away from the more strenuous figure of Olga Bryzgina, of the Unified Team, in 48.83. Phylis Smith, from Wolverhampton, finished last in 50.87.

Meanwhile Kriss Akabusi's chances in today's 400m hurdles final, which he reached with the third-fastest time of 48.01, rose with the disqualification of the world champion, Samuel Matete of Zambia, who knocked over a hurdle in the next lane.

America's decathlon hope, Dave Johnson, was at the centre of controversy yesterday after being given a second chance to stay in the competition. Johnson, 29, apparently fouled all his three attempts in the third event, the shot putt. But, after a dispute, a judge ruled that he should be allowed a fourth attempt, which prompted protests from other teams. Johnson was lying ninth at the end of the first day.

(Photograph omitted)