by Larry EderHyleas Fountain shown here, in the hurdles during the Beijing Heptathlon..
BEIJING – Hyleas Fountain (Kettering, Ohio) on Saturday was awarded the silver medal in the women’s heptathlon, in a ceremony held in the Olympic Village.
USOC Chief of Sport Performance Steve Roush made the presentation to Fountain, who was moved up from third to second when original silver medalist Lyudmila Blonska tested positive for the substance methyltestosterone, her second doping offense.
“I think it’s great to get the silver, and I won it in a fair way,” Fountain said. “But it’s not my place to judge her (Blonska). I just wanted to get on the medal stand. I didn’t know where it would be. I’m very happy with the silver.”
In the first two days of track and field competition in Beijing, Fountain became the only American woman other than Jackie Joyner-Kersee ever to win an Olympic medal in the heptathlon. She scored 6,619 points to finish behind Nataliia Dobrynska of Ukraine, who won the gold with a personal-best 6,733 points. Following Blonska’s drug test, fourth-place finisher Tatiana Chernova of Russia was moved up to third, with 6,591 points.
Fountain is a three-time national champion in the heptathlon, including her victory at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Ore. As a collegian at the University of Georgia, she was an NCAA champion in the heptathlon, indoor pentathlon, and indoor and outdoor long jump. For a complete bio of Fountain, visit the Athlete Bios section of www.usatf.org
