Commonwealth Games: Gold for Nearly Man Macey Lifts England's Spirits

Britain's prospects for the London 2012 Olympics look a little brighter after a night when England won three gold medals in the athletics in the Commonwealth Games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Dean Macey led the charge with his first decathlon gold of an injury-ravaged career, but even more encouraging were the victories of the 21-year-old Christine Ohuruogu in the 400 metres and the 22-year-old Lisa Dobriskey in the 1500m, performances which offered a shaft of light for an athletics team facing their worst performance in these Games for nearly 70 years.

Ohuruogu and Dobriskey took their lead from the 28-year-old Macey, a larger-than-life character who has the personality to single-handedly lift British athletics out of the doldrums if only he can stay fit for an extended period of time. He has been competing internationally since winning silver in the world junior championships in Sydney 10 years ago but it has taken him this long to claim gold.

Even then he had to defy his body to do it, having injured a hamstring on the eve of his departure here. For two days of the 10-discipline event he had nursed it through, only to strain an elbow in the javelin, the penultimate event, and drop to second. He entered the final event, the 1500m, needing to beat Australia's Jason Dudley to regain the lead. He ran strongly and claimed the gold with 8,143 points.

"This has been such a long time coming," he said. "I have really earned my stripes. Four years ago I didn't make the start line, four years ago I was an inch away from retiring, and now I'm the Commonwealth champion. It feels 10 times better than I thought it was going to be."

Tears were shed at the end with his father. "The tears were because my dad was hugging me so hard. I couldn't breathe. I didn't know what to do - I didn't want to cry and look like a jessie."

Dobriskey forgot to do a lap of honour. "I didn't even think about it. I'm absolutely shell-shocked. Coming off the final bend I'd thought I'd get fourth." The Loughborough student moved from fifth to first down the home straight to succeed Dame Kelly Holmes as champion in 4min 06.21sec, a personal best by nearly two seconds. "How fantastic was that?" said the double Olympic champion, who was watching from the stands. "She was so shocked at the end to have won it but she has capabilities and is always up there with Hayley Tullett and Helen Clitheroe. I don't think anyone would have expected her to come through as strongly as she did and it was an amazing run. She was in the right place and was so strong at the end."

Ohuruogu beat the Bahamas' Olympic and world champion Tonique Williams-Darling in a personal best of 50.28sec to win the title that Cathy Freeman took in Victoria in 1994, six years before she won the Olympic title in Sydney. The victory - England's first in the event since Donna Hartley in 1978 - had been on the cards after Ohuruogu had beaten Williams- Darling in the semi-final. "I'm happy I've come away with a personal best and I feel like I've really achieved something," she said. "I knew I could beat Tonique because if you beat someone once you know you can beat them again."

The Irish runner Sonia O'Sullivan, controversially cleared to run for Australia in the Commonwealth Games, has pulled out of Friday's 5,000m after failing to recover from a hamstring injury.

In the pool, David Davies stormed home for a superb victory in the men's 1500m freestyle to claim Wales's first swimming gold medal for 32 years and end Australia's 52-year domination of the discipline. The Olympic and world bronze medallist had been the overwhelming favourite since Grant Hackett withdrew last November after shoulder surgery. "All week I've been in a no-win situation as everybody expected me to win," Davies said. "It's great to finally race and get the pressure off my shoulders."

Norfolk's Mike Gault etched his name in the history books as he claimed his 14th Commonwealth Games medal to become the most decorated English athlete of all time. The 51-year-old civil servant took silver in the 50m pistol to overtake the swimmer Karen Pickering's 13-medal haul.