Javelin thrower Stuart Farquhar made the perfect start to his Olympic campaign yesterday.
Farquhar was seeking an automatic qualifying throw of 82m and with his first throw he uncorked an impressive 82.32m.
With that he packed up and left, a job well done.
Its a relief, he said afterwards. But I felt very relaxed out there. It was a bonus to nail it with my first throw.
Farquhars throw was the sixth longest of the 12 qualifiers. The javelin final is not until Saturday evening.
New Zealands 1500m runner, Lucy van Dalen, bowed out in the semi-finals.
She finished 11th in her semi-final, in a time of 4min 06.97ss, a second or so outside her personal best.
In the mens decathlon, Brent Newdick had a mixed first day. After five events he was in 20th place in a field of 31.
Newdick, 27, began his day with a 100m time of 11.10s, then had a long jump of 7.36m (11th in that event)
He moved up the standings when he managed 5.09m in the shot put, his personal best. His other puts were 14.16, and 14.51m. His shot put was seventh among the decathletes.
In the high jump, Newdick succeeded at 1.96m, his seasons best.
The New Zealander finished his days work by running 50.22s for the 400m.
He ended the day with 4951 points, which left him 742 behind the leader, American Ashton Eaton.
