LONDON, Aug 8: Two women who created international headlines off the track made appearances in 800-metre qualifying on Wednesday at the London Olympics. It was Caster Semenya’s first, and Sarat Attar’s one and only.Attar, wearing a white headscarf, green long-sleeved shirt and black leggings, became the first Saudi woman to compete in Olympic athletics. With the 80,000-capacity crowd cheering, she finished her heat in 2 minutes, 44.95 seconds — more than 40 seconds behind the fastest qualifier — and failed to advance to the semi-finals.

“It’s an incredible experience,” Attar, who has dual United States citizenship and is a student at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, told reporters.

“It is the hugest honour to be here to represent the women of Saudi Arabia. It is an historic moment. I hope it will make a difference. It is a huge step forward. It’s a really incredible experience.”

Semenya, meanwhile, left the gender controversy which once threatened her career further behind her as she finished second in her heat behind American Alysia Montano.

The 21-year-old had to undergo drug tests followed by gender tests after her 2009 World Championships victory in Berlin and was later barred from competing for nearly a year before being cleared to run again.

Once again the main stadium was packed with enthusiastic crowds on Wednesday and mostly sold-out Olympic venues have underlined how the Games have caught the imagination of a public spurred on by Britain’s best gold medal haul for 104 years.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said he was satisfied with the way the Games had gone.

“All in all I would say these are very good Games and I am a very happy man,” he told reporters.

At the Excel Arena, Hitomi Obara of Japan won the wrestling gold in women’s 48kg freestyle after beating Azerbaijan’s Mariya Stadnik 3-1 in the final.

There was drama in the men’s pole vault when Cuban Lazaro Borges’ pole snapped in two places as he rose towards the bar, but he escaped unharmed.

The Italian men’s volleyball team pulled off a surprise 3-0 quarter-final victory over defending champions the United States to keep alive their dreams of a first Olympic gold.

In basketball, Spain beat France 66-59 to set up a semi-final against Russia, who recorded an 83-74 win over Lithuania.

But the French exacted their revenge on the Spaniards when they defeated them 23-22 in their handball quarter-final. France, the defending champions, were later joined by Sweden and Hungary in the semi-finals.

At the Aquatics Centre, Balkan neighbours Serbia and Montenegro reached the semi-finals of the water polo tournament along with Italy, who beat reigning champions Hungary.

BMX time trial world champion Caroline Buchanan of Australia and Raymon van der Biezen of the Netherlands posted the best times of the seeding runs on Wednesday.

BMX was first included in the Olympic programme at the Beijing Games and is generally a crowd-pleaser. After the seeding runs, the races are likely to be more spectacular with all riders starting together from the top of a big ramp.

In the boxing arena, India’s five-time world champion M.C. Mary Kom was beaten 11-6 by Britain’s second-seeded Nicola Adams in the semi-finals of the flyweight competition.—Agencies