Greg Rutherford has endured a torrid time over the past couple of years, his hopes of going away to make himself “bulletproof” undone by a series of injuries and the mental turmoil brought on by his grandfather discovering last month that he had terminal cancer.

His attempt to find a light at the end of his tunnel here was fraught with more problems as he made an early departure from the long jump final. Afterwards, he said that he had wasted a great chance to become Olympic champion. Irving Saladino’s winning jump of 8.34 metres is not beyond him and, even more grating for him, the bronze medal jump was only 8.20 metres, the distance that he managed in Birmingham last month to qualify for the Olympics.

There was better news elsewhere for the British. Martyn Rooney and Andrew Steele got the ball rolling by breezing through their 400 metres heats. Rooney’s progress this season, dipping below the 45-second barrier, has elevated him to long-shot status here, while Steele’s personal best of 44.94sec means that he qualified for this afternoon’s semi-finals with a faster time than Jeremy Wariner and LaShawn Merritt, the American pair expected to tussle for the title.

Phillips Idowu followed suit. The triple jumper opened with 17.44 metres, the longest jump of qualifying by 10 centimetres. Having not managed more than 17.35 metres last season, flunking the World Championships test with 17.09, he has consistently topped 17.40 this year, indoors and out. Larry Achike, his fellow Briton, also made Thursday’s final, but Nathan Douglas bowed out.

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Background

• How the Brits became world beaters

• London double-decker arrives in Beijing

• Olympics proves capacity for greatness

• New dawn for British sport as Olympic sun sets

Multimedia

• Simon Barnes in Beijing

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The women’s hurdlers did their bit, too. Sarah Claxton became only the second British woman to reach an Olympic 100 metres hurdles final, which is not bad for someone who is not lottery-funded, and Natasha Danvers made her second final in the 400 metres version. Christian Mal-colm and Marlon Devonish qualified as fastest losers to earn the right to attend Usain Bolt’s 200 metres semi-final party this afternoon.