Xiang had appeared to be moving past his successor as Olympic champion towards at the ninth hurdle, causing the Chinese athlete to lose his momentum and hit the last hurdle before taking third place behind Jason Richardson.

"When I approached the ninth hurdle, Robles pulled me," said Xiang.

"It made me slow down,.

"At first, I thought I would be the champion or at least second.

"But Robles pulled me."

An official confirmed: "Robles has been disqualified by the track referee under rule 163.2 for obstruction on the track."

The American, whose time of 13.16sec was 0.02 slower than that of Robles, had shed tears of frustration on the track which could now turn to tears of joy, although he had to wait for an over an hour until he discovered that the Cuban counter-protest had been unsuccessful.


The disqualification of Robles also meant that Britain's Andy Turner (pictured above crossing line behind Richardson) was promoted from fourth spot to the bronze medal, behind Xiang.

On a day when Jessica Ennis ended the first day of the heptathlon with a 151 points lead over her main rival, Tatyana Chernova of Russia, it was an unexpected bonus for the British team.

After finishing in 13.44 - one place ahead of America's David Oliver, who tops this year's world's listings with 12.94 - Turner had said: "I have mixed emotions, I got a bit of cramp in the warm-up area 10 minutes before coming out on the track.

"It was nothing major, but when you get on the start-line you want everything to be perfect.

"But what can I say, I finished fourth in a World Championship final, I've got to be happy with that."

Turner later tweeted: "Not the way I wanted to win a medal, don't feel I deserve it but I can't complain, wow!!"

Earlier in the day, Turner had tweeted: "In my semi-final in Barcelona [where he won the European Championships] I had lane 6, I have lane 6 in my semi today, another sign?"

It seems he was not wrong.

Ennis (pictured) had a mixed day.


After failing to achieve her customary victories in the 100m hurdles and high jump, where her clearance of 1.86 metres was five centimetres below her best of the season, she threw a big personal best of 14.67m in the shot and then won the 200 metres in 23.50.

But Chernova ran outstandingly on the inside lane to record a personal best of 23.50 and set herself up for the second day where she usually makes big gains.

"I was very frustrated after the first two events but I was really happy to throw that pb in the shot," said the 25-year-old Sheffield athlete.

"It's so tight and it's going to be a tough day tomorrow."

As the news of Robles's bad news was coming through, there was something to raise Cuban spirits – the sight of surprise pole vault silver medallist Lazaro Borges flourishing the national flag after finishing one place behind – aptly enough – a Pole.

Pawel Wojciechowski achieved 5.90m, the highest mark of the year; as did Borges, but he lost on countback.

Earlier in the evening the Daegu stadium had seen two projected doubles come unstuck.

First Allyson Felix, who has entered the 400m and 200m here, just failed to overhaul Botswana's Amantle Montsho in the longer race, despite running a personal best of 49.59.

It was Botswana's first ever medal at the World Championships.

Then Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown, who came here seeking gold in the 100m and 200m, was beaten into silver medal position in the short sprint by Carmelita Jeter of the United States, who ran 10.90 to her 10.97.

Felix and Campbell-Brown will thus converge on the 200m which starts on Thursday (September 1) in pursuit of consolation gold.


The dream was also over for Oscar Pistorius, whose goal of reaching the 400m final ended after he finished last in his semi-final.

The 24-year-old South African - the first amputee athlete ever to compete in the competition and again the most loudly-supported in the stadium - needed to finish in the top four to have a chance of a place in the final but when he came around the final bend he was battling for last place with Demetrius Pinder of the Bahamas.

"I worked extremely hard to get here," said Pistorius.

"I'm happy with my performance tonight...not as quick as I wanted to be but it's great to have this platform to run on and it'st's been an unbelievable experience.

"I'll be back for the relay."

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