Local Runner Gets Gold for Wales!
Former Coedcae School pupil Dai Greene added the Commonwealth title to his European crown after he held off South Africa’s Louis Van Zyl in the 400 metres hurdles final in Delhi. He won in 48.52sec as Van Zyl desperately tried to make up the deficit following the final hurdle.
However, Greene held on to record Wales’s first gold of these Games, completing a memorable year for the 24-year-old Llanelli hero.
Rhys Williams, Greene’s training partner and the European silver medallist, was third in 48.96 to claim a bronze for Wales.
Greene told BBC Sport: “I knew he [Van Zyl] was the guy to watch out for but I always felt I had an extra gear to switch to when I wanted to and I did in the home straight.
“I put myself in the driving seat and then waited to see what he did and push on if I had to. Lots of people have been coming up to me and saying: ‘Go on Dai’, but I knew what I was capable of. I’m very pleased. The season couldn’t have gone any better. I won the UK trials, the Europeans and now the Commonwealths. There’s nothing else I could possibly have won. It all bodes well for next year and the Worlds, and then 2012.”
Williams, who trains with Greene under Malcolm Arnold in Bath, added: “The two guys ran great. I thought it would be a lot closer but fair play to Dai. He did well, it’s tough and the strongest survive.”
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