Beijing ? Former Kansas University standout Scott Russell’s Olympics run ended early Saturday morning with a 10th-place finish.

Representing Canada, Russell, who threw 265-5 in the finals, was the top finisher from North America.

Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen won the gold medal in an Olympic-record 297-1. Ainars Kovals of Latvia took the silver medal in a personal-best 284-3. Finland’s Tero Pitkamaki won bronze in 282-8.

“I’m happy that I made it to the Olympic Games, but just being here wasn’t good enough,” Russell told the Vancouver Sun. “That was my thought when I did get my qualifier (Olympic standard) in Canada (to earn the right to go to Beijing). That was my No. 1 life goal, so what’s next?

“If I don’t have something bigger than this, then there’s no reason to stay in the sport. So now I’m revising. I know the top three guys out there are throwing 87 meters. I know I’m capable of it, it’s just that my body’s not there yet.”

Russell, who lives in Lawrence, competed in the finals on gimpy legs. He has a chipped piece of cartilage in his right knee and a strained patella tendon in his left knee.

The 29-year-old had right knee surgery last September.

“It’s been a number of things, but none of them are excuses,” Russell told the Vancouver Sun. ” I’ve really stayed positive through all of them. I tried not to let anything that could be negative take over and not let me be here and be competitive. It paid off. I made the finals. I didn’t make the top eight, which was my goal, but I was damn close.

“This is a bit bittersweet, to go out like this because I know I can be competitive with the top guys. I know I can throw what they can throw. It’s a little tough to take.”

Russell may try for the 2012 Games in London.

“My brain’s definitely open to it,” he told the Sun. “We’ll see how my body holds up over the next two or three seasons. I want to definitely do Germany (2009 Worlds), then Commonwealth Games in India in 2010. After that, we’ll see how the body is, but I’d like to do another Olympics if I can.”

Russell competed in intense pain at the ’08 Games.

“My body let me get to the finals,” Russell told the Sun. “I knew that one of my first few throws was going to be my best, because my knees have just been shot this year.”

Russell said his sport simply is tough on the knees.

“The specific thing is I’m a javelin thrower,” he said. “If you look out on the field, there’s more taped up joints than you’ll see in any sport. We’re all duct taped together.

“It’s a train wreck that gets to happen six times over again. It’s not an easy sport. If you ever get a chance to experience running full speed ahead and stopping on a straight left leg, you’ll know what I mean.”

Russell, who missed qualifying for the 2000 and ’04 Olympics, was not nervous at his first Games.

“I’m not going to lie. It wasn’t really much different than any other meet. That was my mentality going in,” he told the Sun. “It’s special, because I know the stage that this is, but my mindset was that I know my (personal best) could potentially medal. My thought process going in was, ‘If you do what you’re capable of doing, you could be in the hunt for a medal.’

“I wasn’t in shock and awe. I’ve competed against these guys for multiple years. You get used to seeing the same old guys. All they did this season was stamp some rings on it.”