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Gary Reed wants to be more than an also-ran as he goes through the rounds of the Olympic 800 metres.

The world championship silver medalist from Kamloops, B.C., was upset with himself after the first round Wednesday night in the National Stadium.

He qualified easily for the second round in 1 minute, 46.02 seconds, the 12th-best time of the 24 athletes to move on, but he was furious with himself for the way he did it.

"I made a lot of stupid mistakes," said Reed, who set a personal best and Canadian record of 1:43.68 earlier this year. It's the sixth fastest time in the world this year and Reed wants to use the speed effectively.

He led until about 75 metres from the end when Spain's Manuel Olmedo and Sudan's Ismail Ahmed Ismail went by. The Spaniard won in 1:45.78 and Ismail ran 1:45.87.

"It was a bad race. You can't let your guard down at the Olympics. You pay a price. I started my kick too early and couldn't respond when they went by. It's the Olympic Games, and you make an error, you're going home."

The fastest qualifier for Thursday night's semi-finals was Kenya's Wilfred Bungei in 1:44.90.

The other Canadian entered, Achraf Tadili of Laval, Que., failed to qualify in a slow heat, finishing in 1:48.87, only 47th among the 58 first-round runners.

The former Commonwealth Games silver medal winner miscalculated about when he could kick to the finish. "Everyone had energy left to finish quickly," said Tadili, who had an injury to the adductor muscle in his thigh this spring and took some time to recuperate from it."

Meanwhile, middle-distance runner Kevin Sullivan's ran the heats of the Olympic 5,000 metres, and the surprise appearance had the feel of a farewell lap.

The 34-year-old Canadian record holder in the 1,500 metres made an unexpected appearance in the qualifying heats of the 12 1/2-lap grind Wednesday night at the Bird's Nest Stadium, three nights after a disappointing exit in his specialty. The 5,000 was a slow waltz in 14 minutes 9.16, almost 50 seconds off his personal best. He said after the race he wasn't announcing a retirement before the end of the season, but it's not likely he'll be on the track for a fourth Olympics at London in 2012.

"It felt realistic to give it a shot, I had nothing to lose," said Sullivan, whose signature race remains a bold fifth-place finish in an elite world class field at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

He will continue to run for the rest of the season on the European circuit, but hasn't clarified plans beyond that.

"You don't pack in the rest of your year just because you have a disappointment."

No one is pushing him to step away from the middle distances. His Canadian record in the 1,500 (3:31.71) has stood since 2000. He also has the national record at 3,000 metres (7:41.61) set this summer at the DN Galan meet in Stockholm.

" Performance-wise, I'm still competing well and meeting the toughest criteria put out to make the team...

"But you have to ask yourself do you want to do it, to think about it [track] every day? It's not a sport you can half-ass. I've ben doing it va long time, 18 years."

Sullivan said he has been making decisions on whether to coninue on a yearly basis for the past six years. When it's time to retire, "it's not a decision I'll be making by myself. I'll talk it over with my coaches and my wife and my good friends."

There will be an obvious visual cue when he's decided his competitive days are done, Sullivan said. He'll have buds in his ears.

"I've always associated iPod runners with recreational runners. When you bsee me running around with an iPod, you'll know I'll be retired."