Olympic adventure ends on a high

The 16-year-old hammer thrower was off-colour in her qualifying round in Singapore and paid the price, with her best throw of 49.94m only good enough for a spot in the 'B'-final.

She only managed to record one throw and three fouls in qualifying last Thursday, but did bounce back in style to win the second string final on Monday with a best of 53.21m.

Louisa was 12th in qualifying with the top nine going forward to contest the 'A'-final at the Bishan Stadium. The leading seven competitors all threw over 55m, but 51.14m was good enough to make it through.

Her worst three throws in the 'B'-final were all over 52.60m and she was a clear winner with Julia Ratcliffe (New Zealand) the only one of the other five competitors to go over 50m, albeit by just 49 centimetres.

It is worth pointing out that Louisa, whose personal best is 54.87m, was the joint youngest competitor and several of her rivals were more than a year her senior.

A cosmopolitan field included throwers from Belarus, France, USA, China, Greece, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Finland, Italy, Cuba, Tunisia, Egypt, Paraguay and Spain.

The Sedlescombe-based former Claverham Community College student is due to start federal sixth form college at William Parker Sports College in September.

The full article, including reaction from Louisa, will appear in Friday's Hastings and Battle Observers.