Okoye woe after finishing last (From Western Telegraph)

Okoye woe after finishing last

8:55pm Saturday 30th June 2012 in National Sport © Press Association 2013

British record holder Lawrence Okoye was downcast after finishing last in the discus final at the European Championships in Helsinki.

Okoye, who has deferred a place at Oxford to study law to concentrate on athletics, improved his national record to 68.24 metres in May and qualified for the Olympics at last weekend's trials. However, he could only manage a best of 60.09m from his three attempts on Saturday evening to finish 12th, with only the top eight getting three extra throws.

The competition got under way during a torrential downpour, but Okoye said: "It might be raining in London so I have got to get used to it. You have to prepare for any eventuality. It's disappointing, I didn't cope with it."

He added: "I came here to do well and I haven't done that so I am very disappointed. Robert Harting (the world champion) was able to throw 65m so I should have been able to do the same. I should have dealt with it. I just have to go home and get my head down again."

Germany's Harting eventually threw 68.30m to win the title ahead of Estonia's Gerd Kanter with Zoltan Kovago of Hungary claiming bronze.