My new hero: M35 silver medalist Mensah Elliott of Gambia

Mensah leads at left in 2002 race before DQ.

Mensah Elliott, who holds dual UK-Gambian citizenship, won a silver medal in the 60 hurdles at Finland worlds. And he’s returned a hero. Loved this in a local radio website account of Jyväskylä: “Mensah Elliott was the sole representative for The Gambia and had to make sure that he was noticed, flying the flag for The Gambia. He was amazed how many people have never heard of the country or where it is. Mensah made the finals for the 60m sprint and was immediately noticed.” How cool to be the lone national team member.

More from the report:

He had people coming up to him asking him about the country as Gambia has never before been represented in these championships so people were surprised that someone from such a small country could make it to the finals of a sprints event. In the 60mH, Mensah qualified easily for the finals and he finished 2nd, running the same time as the winner, 8.12s. The Gambian claimed that he should have won really but admits he had a bad start.

“I should have won [the event] really. My start was not the best but I was able to take the lead after the first hurdle,” Mensah said. “Unfortunately, I hit the last three hurdles, which enabled the other athlete to gain ground on me,” he added.

Mensah said that pictures show that he clearly won the event from the right but the judges decided to use the one on the left to determine the winner.

Mensah said, “The photo finish from the right clearly shows me ahead of this athlete but the judges decided to go with the image from the camera on the left. They said it was more conclusive.”

The Gambian said that he is however pleased with the result considering that he haven’t been able to train over the hurdles for over three months due to a hamstring injury. His next move is to work on getting rid of the injury he has and train as best as he can for the outdoor season to be held next year in Porto Alegre, Brazil.