Despite a disappointing performance, Javier Culson should still receive a hero’s welcome when he returns home after the 2012 Olympic Games.

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican track star, the pre-Olympics favorite to take home the gold in the 400m hurdles at the London Games, had to settle for bronze following Félix Sánchez’s surprising victory in the final to claim his second Olympic gold in that event.

“I’m not pleased with it at all,” said Culson, the world No. 1 all year who hadn’t lost outdoors this summer before these Olympics. “I lost my rhythm towards the end of the race and I couldn’t get it back. I send my apologies to the people back home, but at least I made it to the final.”

But Culson can take solace in knowing he claimed Puerto Rico’s first Olympic medal in 16 years. And his bronze is the first Olympic medal Puerto Rico has ever won outside of the boxing ring.