Mottram making no excuses

Australia's great hope in the men's 5000m in Beijing, Craig Mottram has said he has no-one to blame but himself for failing to qualify for the final.

Looking for a top-four finish in his heat at the Bird's Nest on Wednesday night to qualify automatically, Mottram was 'bitten on the arse' by his fifth placing in 13 minutes 44.39s.

He missed out on qualifying as one of the next three fastest by precisely two seconds.

Drawn in the toughest of the three heats alongside reigning world champion Bernard Lagat of the United States, the 28-year-old was right up with the leaders with 500 metres to go which is where he'd planned to make his move.

"The Qatari beat me to it and I thought, 'this is good, I'll follow him' and after about 50, 60 metres of that, that was it, I just couldn't go any more," said Mottram.

"I don't know why, I wasn't good enough."

"I've got no excuses and if I was concerned about not finishing in the top four, I would have taken the pace up myself."

"I backed my ability to make it in the top four and it bit me on the arse - that's sport."

Mottram said he was 'stung' by the hot pace - 55.05s - for the final lap.

"It hurts because I think that I'm a good distance runner, I am a good distance runner … but this is a semi-final of the Olympics and they take only four," he said.

"There was nothing wrong, my preparation was great … but when the pressure came on, I wasn't good enough - simple."

Australia's other 5000m entrant Collis Birmingham finished 11th in his heat in 13.44.90.

There was mixed news in qualifying for the Men's Pole Vault.

Steve Hooker made it through in 12th place with a clearance at 5.65m but Paul Burgess failed at all three attempts at that height to finish 16th and out of contention for the final.

Earlier, Lachlan Renshaw blamed a virus which is running through the Australian track and field squad for his 'devastating' time in the heats of the Men's 800m at the Bird's Nest on Wednesday night.

Looking like death warmed-up after his race, Renshaw said he had been in bed for three days up until race-eve and several team-mates including Steve Hooker had also been affected.

The virus didn't stop the 21-year-old from adopting his natural front-running style in his heat which included the defending Olympic champion, Yuriy Borzakovskiy.

But, after taking the field through the first lap in 50.89 seconds, Renshaw faded in the straight the second time to finish sixth in one minute 49.19s.

"You're not going to chase those guys down if you give them a 10-metre start, so I had to be able to take it up to them," Renshaw said.

"One-forty-nine is my worst time this year - it's pretty devastating - but you can only play with the cards you're dealt and I was dealt a seven-three off suit."

"Today was the first day that I started feeling better but it was obviously not in my legs."