when he narrowly fouled on his penultimate jump that went to medal-winning distance.

The 24-year-old Bermudian finished a creditable fifth in the triple jump final in the Estadi Olimpic with a best of 56 feet, six-and-three-quarter inches -- a new wind-legal national record.

But Wellman would have assured himself of at least a bronze and the second medal in the country's Olympic history had he been but two or three inches further back on his fifth attempt.

"The whole time my leg was bothering me but I was trying to block that out,'' said Wellman. "At first I had to rebuild because I was thinking about my approach. On my third and fourth jumps I had my right approach and on my fifth jump I was thinking that I had my approach down, I could run, I was not going to pull my hamstring and I attacked it ... and I scratched.

"It was far but I can't take anything from anybody else. You see Conley went 59-7 with a 2.1 wind. I know that feels bad to miss the world record because the wind was 2.1, so I can't complain because I scratched.

"I'm a young guy so hopefully I'll get some sponsorship going, be healthy and take it from there.'' American Mike Conley, Wellman's assistant coach at the University of Arkansas, shattered the Olympic record with his gold-medal-winning jump but the headwind reading was .10 miles per hour over the limit for world records. The existing mark is 58-111 , set by American Willie Banks in 1985.

Charlie Simpkins won the silver medal with his final jump of 57-9 while Frank Rutherford of the Bahamas took the bronze at 56-111 .

Leonid Voloshin of the Unified Team, a co-favourite with Conley coming into the final jumped 56-10 on his first attempt and could go no further to finish fourth.

Wellman was third after the first round, when he jumped 55-9. Voloshin led the pack and Cuban teenager Yoelvis Quesada Fernandez was second on 56-31 .

But the standings quickly changed as China's Sixin Zou went 55-91 on his second and only legal jump and then Conley took the lead with an Olympic record 57-10.

Wellman put himself into third place with his best jump but that didn't last long as as the powerfully-built Rutherford produced his best to close the second round.

From there Wellman struggled with his approach and after going only 55-9 on his third attempt, he fouled out the rest of the way.

Wellman remained fourth until midway through the fifth round when Simpkins, the US Trials winner whose previous best was a mere 55-41 , jumped 56-83 .

Quesada was sixth on 56-41 , followed by Aleksandr Kovalenko of the Unified Team (55-113 ), Vasiliy Sokov of the Unified Team (55-33 ), Maris Bruziks of Latvia (55-11 ), top qualifier Pierre Camara of France (54-21 ) and Eugeniusz Bedeniczuk of Poland (53-3).

For Wellman and Conley, it was like being back at school. They conversed after every jump and shared a camaraderie during competition that is uncommon at this the highest level.

"It was long overdue for Mike to win something like this,'' said Wellman. "I told him his last jump, I said, `Mike, it makes no sense you running down the runway on this last approach unless you're out here to break the world record.

Wellman, who has one more year left in college, plans to make the most of that time around the new Olympic champion and sees his own moment of glory coming in the future.

He said: "I was looking to medal tonight. But it wasn't meant to be. I had a couple of scratches out there. Technically, I'm starting to get things together a little better, but I've got a long way to go. I've got a lot to learn.

"Everybody in front of me is a few years older than me in triple jumping -- they've been at that level longer than I have. This is my second year at this level on this scene. So, hopefully there are better things to come for me in the future.'' Wellman will be jumping in either Monte Carlo or Zurich in the next fortnight but when last spotted last night he was on his way to chew out any Track and Field News reporter he could find.

"They kind of got me fired up because they had the top 10 picked and I didn't even make the top 10, I wasn't even in the picture,'' he said.

"I guess they figured that at my sixth place at the world championships I just lucked out and I jumped 56-9 by mistake at the NCAAs. I beat (Ralf) Jaros in Europe. The only people I haven't beaten in Europe are Conley, Simpkins and Voloshin before coming here, so I couldn't figure that one. And earlier this year they screwed me because they have asterisks besides the names of defending NCAA champions in their programmes and they didn't have one by my name. They really got me fired up.'' JUMPING FOR JOY -- American Mike Conley, yesterday's Olympic triple jump gold medalist, leaps to a world best 59 feet, seven inches only to find that the wind assistance was beyond the legal limit. -- Reuter.