Looking ahead to Deval O'Rourke in the Olympic womens 100m hurdles...Mon 6th August

Coming up next Monday, the 6th of August at 10am, Derval O'Rourke starts in the heats of the 100m hurdles in London. Back in Beijing Olympics of 2008, the slowest time to get through the first round was 12.98 seconds. It probably stands to reason so that Derval will need to go under 13 seconds if she hopes to progress through the first round. Just last week, she ran 13.02 so she may well be able to do it.

But what about the event itself?........the womens 100m hurdles? To the ordinary spectator, it may seem easy enough......just run as fast as possible for 100m and jump the hurdles along the way.

It is however a highly technical event where the smallest details can result in fractions of a second being gained or lost. The New York Times has an excellent video clip HERE which gives some basic facts about the event. Well worth watching.