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August 20, 2004 7:18 pm

Miles-Clark breezes into 800 semis

By ELLIOTT DENMAN

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece - At 37, Jearl Miles-Clark is showing no signs of slowing down in a long and brilliant career that has sent her to five Olympic Games and brought her two golds and a silver.

Miles-Clark ran her 800-meter qualifying heat in 2:01.33 Friday night at Olympic Stadium, placing second to Great Britain's Kelly Holmes and breezing into Saturday night's semifinals.

But sister-in-law Hazel Clark, 26, whose brother, J.J., is Jearl's coach and husband, had no such luck. Her time of 2:05.67 place her fifth in her heat and out of contention for the semis.

Clark was enduring the effects after her lower back was badly burned. ``Someone spilled boiling water on me nine days ago, at our training camp in Crete,'' she said. ``It was certainly accidental but I couldn't train for a week.''

It was a tough break for the five-time NCAA champion from University of Tennessee who placed seventh in the 800 at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

``I don't want to make any excuses, but I'm pretty upset about all of this,'' Clark said.

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