Another Olympic near miss for Eastern Michigan graduate Jamie Nieto
Eastern Michigan graduate Jamie Nieto clears the bar in the men's high jump final on Tuesday. A tie-breaker pushed Nieto out of third place.
Associated Press
Jamie Nieto's final Olympic appearance ended with another near miss.
The 1999 Eastern Michigan graduate matched a three-way tie for the bronze medal by clearing 2.29 meters (7-feet, 5-inches) at Olympic Stadium in London on Tuesday, but dropped to sixth place because he had more misses.
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Nieto missed his first attempt at 2.29 meters. He cleared the height on his second attempt, leaving him among the final eight athletes.
Barshim, Drouin and Grabarz cleared 2.29 meters on their first attempt and all three missed three straight times at 2.33 meters.
Nieto missed twice at 2.33, then passed his third try and skipped up to 2.36 meters in a last-ditch attempt to secure a bronze medal. He missed.
The 2012 EMU athletic hall of fame inductee lost out on an Olympic medal chance in similar fashion in 2004. He tied for third place at the Athens Games, but Jaroslav Baba of the Czech Republic won the bronze medal because he had fewer misses.
In 2008, Nieto finished second at the Olympic trials but did not make the team because he had not reached the Olympic “A” standard. He cleared the standard after the deadline, but his appeal was declined.
The 35-year-old has said that 2012 will be his final year of competition.