Attwell's shining moment in the decathlon

The Christchurch-based Attwell hovered around the middle of the 12-strong field for most of the two days, but had a moment of glory in the final event, the 1500m.

In front of a large crowd, Attwell well finished strongly to clock 4min 28.50s, beating the rest of the field by more than two seconds. Even the aptly named Lindon Victor of Grenada, who won the gold medal, and second-placed Canadian Damian Warner were left languishing behind Attwell up the home straight.

Attwell finished the 10 events with a total of 6686, well behind Victor's winning score of 8036.

The 29-year-old New Zealander showed himself to be a good track athlete, running well in the 100m and the 400m, as well as the 1500m, but struggled in the throwing events. He lost ground in the shot put, javelin and discus. He'd have also been disappointed not to fare better in the 100m hurdles as well, because before he specialised in the decathlon he was a champion hurdler.