Goldie Sayers

OLYMPIAN Goldie Sayers, formerly of Ely, has boosted her hopes of scooping a medal in the upcoming London games by beating a world-class field at the Diamond League javelin event held in Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Sayers beat both the reigning Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova, from the Czech Republic, and South African world number one Sunette Viljoen, with a personal best throw of 66.17m.

The 30-year-old smashed her previous best, also the UK record, by a whopping 42cm, which she achieved in Beijing 2008.

“It’s been a long time coming and it’s very good timing but as all athletes say, there’s definitely a lot more left in there so I just need to find how to get it out at the (Olympic) games when it matters.”

Sayers added on social networking site Twitter: “Thanks for all your messages of support. If I could have high-fived everyone who was in the stadium, I would have.”

Sayers will have little more than a week before the games get underway where she said that she hoped to recreate her winning form, and the dreary British weather, in order to help her claim a medal, which she narrowly missed out on in Beijing in 2008.