Slesarenko strikes gold

Yelena Slesarenko upset red-hot favourite Hestrie Cloete in the high jump as the Russian added Olympic gold to her World Indoor title.

The 22-year-old from Volgograd set a new Olympic record of 2.06metres to win the final by four centimetres, breaking the eight-year-old Games best, held by Stefka Kostadinova, by 1cm.

South African Cloete had to settle for the silver medal, which she won on countback from Ukrainian Viktoriya Styopina.

Both athletes had cleared 2.02m, but Viktoriya had the most failures at lower heights and was pushed down to third.

Slesarenko said: “I didn’t know that I was going to win here today. I came in full of hope and I achieved my goal."