Taylor grabs hurdles gold

Angelo Taylor: American golden boy used the 13 stride pattern

American sprinter Angelo Taylor won the men's 400m hurdles final in a time of 47.50 seconds, squeezing Saudi Arabian Hadi Souan Somayli into silver, in a desperate race to the line.

South African Llewellyn Herbert won the bronze in 47.81 seconds.

Taylor came to Sydney with the year's best time of 47.62 but had a lot of ground to make up on his Saudi Arabian off the final bend.

But the 21-year-old kept his composure, gently easing past Somayli at the tape to clinch a hard-earned gold.

It was the fifth Olympics in a row that an athlete from the United States has won the title and the 17th time they have won the event in 22 attempts.

Somayli had looked the most dangerous in the heats, qualifying fastest for the men's final with a personal best 48.14 seconds but knew he would face stiff competition from both Taylor and Llewellyn.

Big occasion

And it was Taylor, who has run sub-43 seconds in the 400m flat, who proved he was the man for the big occasion.

It was a nail biting finish and the American admitted he was not convinced he had won until it was announced over the loudspeaker system.

"I was not praying in thanks that I had won I was just praying for all it was worth that my name was going to be called over the loudspeakers as the winner," the 21-year-old said.

"I knew that there was somebody ahead of me with two hurdles to go as I could see him out of the corner of my eye.

"However, I put my head down and gave it all that I had got and just focussed on the line and said come on Angelo come on Angelo you can do it."

"There's nothing sweeter than gold," he added.

Great Britain's Chris Rawlinson missed out on a place in the final of the men's 400m hurdles as he could only finish sixth in his semi-final.

Men's 400m hurdles final results:

1. Angelo Taylor (USA) 47.50
2. Hadi Souan Somayli (KSA) 47.53
3. Llewellyn Herbert (RSA) 47.81
4. James Carter (USA) 48.04
5. Eronildes Araujo (BRA) 48.34
6. Pawel Januszewski (POL) 48.44
7. Fabrizio Mori (ITA) 48.78
8. Gennadiy Gorbenko (UKR) 49.01