Canberra athlete Brendan Cole couldn't match the heroics of his blistering Olympic Games debut when he missed the final of the 400m hurdles in London.
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Cole ran a superb personal best time in the heats two days ago but could only manage fifth place in his semi-final.
It wasn't enough to lift him into the gold-medal race, but the 31-year-old finished his time in London having proved he could compete with the best in the world.
After the race Cole joked: ''Who could retire after that?''
Australian Institute of Sport hurdler Tristan Thomas also missed out on a spot in the final. Despite a strong run in the heats, Thomas finished seventh in his semi with 50.55 seconds - slower than his 49.13s effort in the heat.
Meanwhile, Lauren Boden could have been forgiven for relaxing ahead of her 400m hurdles heats this morning after celebrating her 24th birthday on the weekend.
But even though her parents, brother and boyfriend had travelled around the world for a dream party at the Olympic Stadium in London, Boden only had one bite of her birthday cheesecake when she met with her family on Friday.
Boden ran at 4am today in her first Olympic appearance.
''We met and the people in the cafe brought out a little piece of cheesecake and sang happy birthday to her,'' mum Kerry Boden said.
''She took one mouthful and then the rest of us shared it.
''Lauren is usually away from us for her birthday so it was just very special to be able to spend her birthday with her.
''We're her presents for now … when we get back home we'll have a bit more of a celebration.
''She's calm about everything, she knows what she has to do.''
Boden turned 24 in the Olympic village and has been soaking up the atmosphere around the precinct for almost a week. She was in the stadium to watch training partner Cole run a personal best time in his 400m hurdle heat and hoped it would inspire her to a similar feat.
