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August 25, 2004 6:16 pm

Taylor struggles to 7th in 400m hurdles

By Scott Pitoniak

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece — Brenda Taylor wanted to come home from her first Olympics with something more tangible than memories. She wanted precious medal.

"Some people are satisfied with just competing in the Olympics,'' the Watauga, N.C., resident said, after a disappointing seventh-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles Wednesday night. "I came here to win a medal.''

Her time of 54.97 was 1.61 seconds slower than the personal best she had run at the Olympic track and field trials in Sacramento, Calif., on July 11.

"If I had run what I did at the trials I would have had the silver medal today,'' Taylor said. "I was feeling really good about my chances after the trials. I thought I could run even better at the Olympics, but that didn't happen. Now, it's done.''

The gold went to Fani Halkia of Greece in a time of 52.82 seconds. Ionela Tirlea-Manolache of Romania won the silver (53.38) and Tetiana Tereshchuk-Antipova of Ukraine took bronze (53.44).

Taylor ran the race in lane two, and although she said she has a lot of trouble running on the inside lanes, she wasn't going to use that as an excuse.

"The bronze medalist was in lane one, so it would be foolish of me to say that was the reason,'' she said. "You just have to run fast no matter where you are on the track. Everybody has to run the same distance.''

Taylor, 25, said she will run competitively one more year. After that, the Harvard University graduate plans to enroll in law school or seek her MBA.

"I think I'll eventually work in government,'' she said. "I'd love to be involved in health care reform.''

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