Costa Rica’s Nery Brenes bombs out at London Olympics

Costa Rican athlete Nery Brenes was eliminated from the 2012 London Olympics after finishing fourth in his qualifying heat of the 400-meter dash competition, Saturday.

Brenes’ time was below his usual numbers for this competition. In his heat, Brenes stopped the clock in 45.65 and finished in fourth place behind Belgium’s Kevin Borlee with 45.14, Britain’s Martin Rooney (45.36) and Sudanese runner Radh Youssif (45.46).

That time was not enough to enter the semifinals, which allows only the first three of each of the seven series and the three fastest times in a playoff. Brenes, world champion in the same distance last March in Istanbul, was Costa Rica’s main hope for an Olympic medal.

Brenes said after the race he had suffered an injury to his left ankle while training in Colombia before the Olympics. Both the injury and a bad start at the race affected his race time, Brenes said. Costa Rica has not won a medal since 2000.

After reaching the semifinals in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, this is probably one of the biggest disappointments Brenes has lived in his career.

The Tico sprinter ended 24th out of 49 competitors.