Aussie long jumpers Fabrice Lapierre, Henry Frayne fall short as US star Jeff Henderson prevails

HE finished 10th but long-jumper Fabrice Lapierre is convinced he threw the gold medal away, as Henry Frayne performed better but still missed the medals.

Fabrice Lapierre only landed one legal jump as he failed to meet high pre-Games expectations.

HE finished 10th but long-jumper Fabrice Lapierre is convinced he threw the gold medal away.

It what turned out to be a train wreck of a competition for one of the medal favourites, the Australian fouled two of his opening three jumps to bomb out early.

A devastated Lapierre was convinced he had the winning jump in him but just couldn’t convert when it mattered inside the Olympic Stadium.

“I was pretty sure I would have jumped the furtherest tonight but I just didn’t get on the board,” he said.

“I fouled and it hurts because I now feel like I just threw away a gold medal because I am sure I could have had a really big jump.

“But you have got to get on the board and I didn’t do that today so I didn’t get it done.”

Queensland’s Henry Frayne did get on the board, finishing seventh with a best leap of 8.06m.

In a drama-packed event, American Jeff Henderson took gold by jumping 8.38m — 1cm clear of South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga with defending champion Greg Rutherford third (8.29m).

Henry Frayne finished seventh in the men’s long jump competition.

There was controversy on the final jump of American Jarrion Lawson who appeared to have produced the gold-medal winning leap only for the measurement to come up 7.78m.

After protesting to officials, it was revealed his finger had lightly brushed the sand as he came down triggering the measurement.

Lapierre, who won the silver medal at last year’s world championships, believes his final foul on his third jump would have put him in the medals.

“My confidence was high, my third jump was really big too, that was huge,” he said. “That would have probably got a medal that third jump in itself but I didn’t get on the board.

“I’m just going to go and try and forget about it, have a little break now and try and forget this whole Olympic moment.

“It sucks, it’s going to hurt for a while but I’ll be back.”

Frayne was also disappointed given he’d only improved two positions after finishing ninth at London 2012.

“It was disappointing, I didn’t come to the Olympics to come seventh,” he said.

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“I was a picture of health coming here and I have finished two positions better than I did with a broken bone in my ankle four years ago so it’s not what I dreamt of.

“I just didn’t have it in the legs today simple as that. I was struggling not to cramp or tear a muscle ... I just had flat legs.”

The 26-year-old, who also competed in the triple jump in London, has had a horror run with injuries of recent years and is hoping for a change of luck.

“I thought I would walk away with a medal from here, so the thought of having to wait another four years to change my life — that is what winning an Olympic medal does it changes your life — seventh place probably doesn’t change our life,” Frayne said.

“I’ve unlocked Pandora’s box in my body. so in the next four years I need to get more competition consistency and match fitness to be able to back up in these major competitions because 8.06 is not good enough.”