Leslie Copeland and javelin

from w
I looked up the results for the preliminary round for javelin at the London Olympics and it looks like Leslie Copeland threw 80.19 metres but just missed out on the final cut by a few centimetres. He was 6th in Group A but there were several good throwers in Group B. What a shame. He is a very fine athlete representing Fiji. But he did beat the Aussie and American throwers!

Group A

Official

Rk	Bib	Athlete	Mark(m)			+
1	2599	THORKILDSEN Andreas  84.47  Q	84.47	Q		+
2	1982	LEBESIS Spiridon    82.40  Q	82.40	Q		+
3	2609	FARQUHAR Stuart  82.32 Q	82.32	Q		+
4	1725	MANNIO Ari     81.99  Q	81.99	q		+
5	1901	HABER Tino   80.39  Q	80.39	q		+
6	1716	COPELAND Leslie 80.19  Seasonal best	80.19		SB

Copeland misses to end Fiji Olympics bid August 09, 2012A+ A-||| 0 inShare   Follow @ Twitter By Sunil Sharma     Leslie Copeland, one of the Fiji’s hopes at the London Olympic Games finished in 13th position in the men’s Javelin and missed out on a spot in the finals to bring down the curtain to Team Fiji’s participation in the Games. Copeland threw the javelin 80.19metres in the qualifying round today, but it wasn’t enough to earn him a spot in Sunday’s final. “Thank you everyone for the prayers and support,” he posted on his facebook page shortly after his near-miss. “I fell short of the finals today. It was an amazing experience. I would really love to carry our national colours into the finals but hopefully next time around I can make my country proud. Once again, vinaka vakalevu and wish you all a pleasant day.”   Copeland’s qualifying throw was also short of his 80.45m national record which he set at the 2011 World Universiade Games in China. Copeland was accompanied to London by his coach, James Goulding and his section manager, Roy Ravana. Team Fiji officials and athletes who are still in London will stay on for the completion of the Games and will return to the country next week. Swimmers Paul Elaisa and Matelita Buadromo returned to Fiji on Monday.   FijiLive 

Read more at: http://www.fijilive.com/sports/news/2012/08/copeland-misses-to-end-fiji-olympics-bid/28458.Fijilive
Copyright 2012 © Fijilive.com

And from Sporting Pulse:

LESLIE SO NEAR YET SO FAR

Team Fiji’s last athlete to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games was Leslie Copeland who we looked forward to his competition today in the Athletics Men’s Javelin Throw “A” Group Qualification.  Leslie threw a massive 80.19m producing his seasons best that placed him 6^th amongst the best Javelin throwers in the world in his Group A. This stunned several of his competitors who asked ‘where did this guy come from’.  Leslie had to wait patiently for nearly two hours to see his final position after the “B” Group competition. 
Only the top 12 throwers in total from both groups qualify for the Final Round and medal play-off which will be held on Saturday. This was a nail-biting situation as a few athletes began throwing over the 80m mark. Slowly Leslie’s position slipped to 13th putting him out of contention for the medal challenge. The German thrower, Tino Haber claimed the 12^th position with a throw of 80.39m, a mere 20cm better then Leslie. 
Going into the competition Leslie’s personal best throw ranked him as 40^th out of the 44 competitors.  The final overall standing saw Leslie ranked in 13^th position.  A remarkable achievement that Team Fiji is very proud of.
Leslie was disappointed for just missing out making the finals but on a brighter side, he was ahead of many top ranking throwers including World champions and the silver medallist from the 2008 Olympic Games.
He is putting this experience behind him and intends to work extra hard towards the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.