Broken foot rules hot prospect Williams out of the Olympics

Rhys Williams, a double medallist at the last European championships, is the latest British athlete to miss the Bejing Olympics, after breaking a bone in his foot.

Williams, son of former Wales and British Lions rugby player J.J. Williams, was racing at his first meeting since missing the entire 2007 season because of a stress fracture when the bone broke.

He ran the heats of the 200 metres at the Welsh championships but felt the bone break when he powered out of his blocks for the final. He stopped within yards, and a scan on Monday confirmed the bad news.

Williams, 24, European junior and under-23 champion at 400 metres hurdles, was bronze medallist in the senior Europeans in 2006 and a silver medallist with the relay.

He subsequently asked former world hurdles champion Colin Jackson to coach him but has since hardly run a competitive race. "I'm not thinking of retiring. This just makes me more determined," he said.

Williams joins a growing number of high profile British athletes who have been reduced to using crutches this summer.

Mark Lewis-Francis, 2004 Olympic relay gold medallist, and world number four heptathlete Jessica Ennis are definitely out of contention, while marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe is not yet back running after injury.