Rio Olympics 2016: Teary Greg Rutherford takes bronze in incredible long jump final – but he thought he’d won it for a second

GREG RUTHERFORD was left in tears after being pipped into Olympic bronze – after he thought he’d nicked it with his final jump.

The Brit was defending the title he won at London 2012 on ‘Super Saturday’ and wanted to win it for his coach Dan Pfaff, but America’s Jeff Henderson took gold.

And after Mo Farah’s 10,000-metre win – the Milton Keynes ace was looking to make it a repeat of that stunning night four years ago.

But the rest of the world turned up to the show, with two Americans Henderson and Jarrion Lawson, as well as South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga making it one heck of a show for the fans.

And in the final round, each of the jumpers put down their best efforts.

Henderson landed 8.38 metres, after Manyonga had just put down a jump a centimetre shorter.

Then Rutherford took his last effort – and for a second it looked like he had done the job, just like he did four years ago.

But the measurement came down as 8.29m and the defending world, Commonwealth, European and Olympic champ held his head in his hands.

And then in the final jump of the entire contest, America’s Jarrion Lawson thought he had stolen the show from his fellow countryman Henderson.

It was a massive mark and he went off to celebrate, but the officials spotted a mark in the sand shorter than his actual jump.

Replays showed that Lawson’s left hand dragged into the sand about a metre shorter than where his feet landed, and they had to measure from the shorter distance.

That kept Rutherford on the podium, but he was gutted with the result.

Rutherford, still the World, Commonwealth and European champion and one of only five Brits in history to hold all four major gold medals in the same cycle, suffered a scare in Friday’s qualifiers to even reach last night’s final when he had two no-jumps again before pulling it out of the bag with his final effort.

He was in fourth place with a best jump of 8.22m before he kept his nerve to take bronze.

He had wanted to win an Olympic medal for his American coach who has been seriously ill.

Rutherford clinched European gold in Amsterdam last month without coach Pfaff – who was having chemotherapy-style infusions back home in Austin, Texas for a serious stomach problem.

Doctors advised him to stay at home but Pfaff was determined to travel to Rio.

Pfaff was on the side of the long-jump pit in the Olympic Stadium last night having been forced to give instructions to Rutherford’s back-up staff in Holland over the telephone between rounds.

But last night even his help was not enough to grab gold.

Rutherford said: “It’s very frustrating. Obviously I come into these competitions to win them. I felt pretty good after yesterday even though I scraped through.

“Ultimately I didn’t jump long enough today which is very difficult for me to take.

“But it is what it is I guess. I’ve just got to make do and move on from that but I’m pretty gutted.

“Things don’t go always go smoothly. I’ve won a lot and today I haven’t won. That’s something I’m not used to and something I have to deal with and figure out.

“My body is always a mess but I’ve been dealing with that for years now. There are no excuses on that front.

“I’m pleased on the last that I mustered what energy I had left to take me from fourth into a medal position but it’s still not good enough in my eyes.”