Lopes-Schliep wins hurdles bronze

Canadian Priscilla Lopes-Schliep won a bronze medal in the 100-metre hurdles final late Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics, a race won by Dawn Harper of the United States.

Harper was timed in 12.54 seconds, with Sally McLellan of Australia taking silver.

Lopes-Schliep, of Whitby, Ont., ran in 12.64 seconds, the same time as McLellan, but officials ruled that McLellan was ahead by mere thousandths of a second.

Priscilla Lopes-Schliep drove hard to the finish - leaning with all her might - and in that split second, she raced out of the shadows for good.

The unheralded athlete from Whitby, Ont., won bronze in the women's 100-metre hurdles at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday, capturing Canada's first Olympic track and field medal in 12 years in a thrilling performance that perhaps changed the pecking order in Canada's crowded hurdling scene.

The 25-year-old product of Whitby, Ont., ascended to the podium a year after her right ovary was surgically removed following the detection of a cyst. The operation was performed before the 2007 world championships in Osaka, Japan, where she competed in the women's 100-metre hurdles.