Women emerge from shadow of Perec

Former 400m hurdles gold medallist and BBC Olympic expert Sally Gunnell looks back on an intriguing opening day of women's athletics action and gives her opinion on the withdrawal of Marie-Jose Perec.

There was excitement even before the action began with the withdrawal of reigning 200m champion Marie-Jose Perec.

I believe she simply wasn't in shape. An athlete of her experience will know exactly what condition she is in, and if she felt in top shape, she would want to race.

The incidents in Australia obviously frightened her, but I don't think she was confident, and not 100 per cent sure that she could beat Cathy Freeman.

The action on the track itself got off to a great start with the performance of Kelly Holmes in the 800m.

She looked very comfortable and she obviously trained very hard in the past few weeks and put in some good sessions.

She showed that she is almost back to her old self after her injury problems.

With the two Russians, Natalya Tsyganova, the world number one, and Olga Raspopova as well as the world champion Ludmila Formanova all out, it's a lot more open for Holmes now.

I think she can get to the final and you never know what could happen there.

Disappointing

The 100 metres was disappointing with all three British competitors going out. That's a shame because Joyce Maduaka ran a faster time than some of those that qualified.

But the failure highlighted that we need to address why no women sprinters are coming through.

Marion Jones was very impressive. I'm surprised that she ran that hard in the second round.

But she probably felt that with a break before the next round, she wanted to get a run out and stretch her legs. And at 10.83 it wasn't a bad stroll in the park!

She looked very easy and strong and I can't see anyone troubling her.

Cathy Freeman looked good, but I'm sure she was just relieved to get out there and get a feel of the stadium.

Katharine Merry looked fully fit in her heat victory

Sometimes you can get tired just waiting around for ages, and after you get your first race out of the way, you run better in the second round.

From a British perspective, Katharine Merry looked really good, and it was good to see Donna Fraser and Allison Curbishley getting through too.

Katharine looked very easy and controlled and so relaxed, and I feel she can go through and challenge in the final.

However, she has had a virus and it will be tough to get through the four days. She will have some hard races with very little time to rest in between.

And a promising opening day ended on a good note with Ashia Hansen qualifying in the triple jump.

It's great to see her get through in her first outdoor competition this year after her injury problems. She showed some pain after her first jump, but she's over a major barrier by getting through the qualifying round.