Richard Buck sits out the fun and Games (From Gazette & Herald)

Richard Buck sits out the fun and Games

4:09pm Wednesday 15th August 2012 in Sport

Ryedale athlete Richard Buck was left on the sidelines as Great Britain’s 4x400 metres men’s relay team narrowly missed out on a medal.

Buck, one of eight runners in the Team GB relay squad, was not picked to take part in last Thursday’s qualifying heat and, unsurprisingly, was left as a reserve, too, for the final.

It was the second time the former pupil at Lady Lumley’s School, Pickering , had been picked for an Olympic relay squad without making the team – having not recovered in time from injury and illness four years ago in Beijing.

The final saw the Bahamas pip favourites USA to the gold medal, while Team GB’s Martyn Rooney was just unable to nick the bronze when chasing Trinidad & Tobago’s Deon Lendore in the home stretch.

World 400 metres hurdle champion Dai Greene, fourth in his individual event, was brought into the line-up for the final, in place of Nigel Levine, meaning more selection misery for Buck. Conrad Williams, Rooney and another hurdler, Jack Green, took part in both the heats and the final.

Rooney came into his anchor leg in the final in fifth place, but, despite running a sterling 44.1 seconds, he failed by just over a 10th of a second to snatch a bronze medal.

Greene said: “It is the worst place to finish and it has happened to us twice now (in Olympics). “As a team, we ran faster than we in the heats and, unfortunately, we didn’t quite finish in the medals.”

Buck tweeted last Thursday: “Disappointed not to be on the track for the 4x400m this morning. But it’s a good heat draw and I know my GB team-mates will get it done.”

Having paid his way over the past year by working at Tescos after losing his Lottery funding, he added after the Olympics closing ceremony: “Leaving the Olympic village and back to the real world: training, racing.. and stacking shelves.”

But he already seems to have turned an eye to the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016. He tweeted: “Just over 1,000 days until Rio? Doesn’t sound that long really...”