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| Friday,
September 15, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Stage set for Sydney extravaganza Team peaking at ‘right time’ Most open hockey contest
Winds may spell doom
for Olympians |
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“Olympics are about winning, not breaking records” Bagan pip
JCT, enter final Horne hits 4th
Test ton Asian school
hockey at Ludhiana China beat
Nigeria Punjab Police lose;
BSF enter final
3 athletes suspended from national camp
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Stage set for Sydney extravaganza SYDNEY, Sept 14 (UNI) — As many as 11,000 athletes from 199 countries will vie for 1000 medals, including 300 gold in 28 events in the biggest ever Olympics beginning here tomorrow. At least 140,000 people will assemble at the main stadium in the picturesque Home Bush Bay and 3.7 billion more will remain glued to the television sets worldwide to watch live the opening ceremony, where the millennium’s first games will be declared open by Australian Governor-General Sir William Deane on behalf of British Queen Elizabeth ii, the country’s head of the state. “Sydney is ready for the first Olympics of the new millennium. The IOC is satisfied and confident that the arrangements are in place for a highly successful Games,’’ said International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch at a news conference here today. But he reserved his verdict on whether the athletes were the best of all time. “Probably we will have to wait until he delivers his address at the closing ceremony on October 1,’’ said one of the participants. “The Olympics are stronger than ever,” added Mr Samaranch, looking at a figure of 21,000 accredited media representatives, 6,000 more than 1996 in Atlanta. Casting aside cynicism about corrupt Olympic officials, doped athletes, poverty, misery, war and militancy in different parts of the world, thousands of people thronged the harbour city otherwise famous for the iron bridge and billowing Opera House to cheer the paritcipants. The number of athletes has gone up by 700 more than the Atlanta Olympics held four years ago. For the first time all the competitors have been accommodated in just one village for spreading international brotherhood and harmony. The gold medals at stake have risen by 29 and the number of countries and sports by two each from the last essay. The honour to sing the opening song has gone to welknown singer Olivia Newton John. Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh, tennis star Pat Rafter and Newton John today welcomed the flame, which set out from Greece in May. Dual gold medallist and four time Olympian Rechelle Hankes will take the oath on behalf of the athletes. The main stadia and other Olympics-related institutions are guarded by 15,000 security personnel amid threat and growing concerns that the Games are getting too big for just one city to handle. The USA which had won 101 (44 gold, 32 silver, 25 bronze) in Atlanta is under pressure to retain the tally. The hosts, the only country besides Greece to have competed at all Olympics since 1896, is all set to improve the haul of 41 medals in Atlanta and 13 gold from Melbourne in 1956 taking advantage of home crowd and own grounds. World record holder of 200m and 400m Ian Thorpe, Susie O’Neill, Michael Klim and Geoff Huegill, Grant Hackett and Kieren Perkins of Australia are the favourites to snatch gold in swimming. |
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SYDNEY, Sept 14 (PTI) — India have decided to attack from the very beginning in their group B lung opener against dangerous Argentina in the Olympic Games hockey championship which is to commence on September 16. “Back home in India we tend to be casual in the opening 10 minutes of a match, sizing up the opposition. (Here)
I have told them they must attack from the beginning,” team coach and 1980 gold medal winning squad captain Vasudevan Baskaran said. “I have told them to enter the field on a confident note,” Baskaran said. Argentina had shocked India in their opening clash four years ago at Atlanta and the Pargat Singh-led team later finished eighth at the Atlanta Games in 1996, their worst-ever performance in Olympics history. The Ramandeep Singh-led team looked very relaxed today after getting a psychological boost from Baskaran. “The boys are motivated. I am trying to teach them not to get tensed up for any reason”, the India coach said. Baskaran, a fine half back in his prime, said that the decision to come to Australia very early was a big advantage as the team got ample opportunities to acclimatise. “The training schedules were not too heavy and the boys have not become jaded from overwork,” he said while wishing that the team had been able to play a few more practice matches before the Games. “But no country was willing to play. They all want to keep their main players (away). That’s why we had to play against some local club sides,” the India coach pointed out. Baskaran sounded happy that the team was peaking at the right time. “They now have to sustain the form over a fortnight,” he added. He praised the stadium and the other facilities available though he too supported the view expressed by some senior players and other teams, including Pakistan, that the ‘System 2000’ synthetic turf on which the championship will be played was very bouncy and left a lot to be desired. “One side of the turf is too bouncy, making trapping and taking clean hits difficult. Being new, the turf is also slippery,” veteran half back and former India captain Mohd Riaz said. The coach said his team would have one more practice session on Saturday, after tomorrow’s opening ceremony, before taking on Argentina on Sunday. “The timings for the practice session will depend on the opening ceremony,” he said adding “all the boys want to participate in the march-past. They consider it a great honour to represent the country. For them taking part in the match-past is a matter of pride.” |
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SYDNEY, Sept 14 (AFP) — The Netherlands have lined up a Dad’s army to defy history and retain the Olympic title in what promises to be the most open men’s field hockey tournament ever. No team has won back-to-back Olympic men’s hockey gold medals since 1960 when India’s domination of the game was finally ended by arch-rivals Pakistan in Rome. But if a team can be favoured to break the jinx, it has to be the seemingly impregnable Dutch, who swept the Olympic, World Cup and Champions Trophy titles in the last four years. The Dutch probably know more about winning an Olympic gold than any other team in the 12-nation tournament. As many as 10 were part of the victorious squad at Atlanta four years ago. Gone are Floris-Jan Bovelander, the most fearsome penalty specialist in the game’s history, playmaker Marc Delissen and striker Tac Van Den Honert, the leading scorer at Atlanta. Gone too is their coach Roelant Oltmans, who has been replaced by Maurits Hendriks, the architect of the Champions Trophy triumph at home in Amstelveen in June. Still, only one player in the current squad has played less than 50 matches. As many as 11 have notched up three figures with midfielder Jacques Brinkman leading the way with 328 appearances. Only Indian striker Dhanraj Pillay (330) and Malaysia’s Nor Saiful Zaini (309) among the present stars have played more than 300 matches. “I am convinced experience counts in the Olympics,” coach Hendriks said. “It is difficult for young players to cope with the pressure”. “It is good we have players who know what winning the gold medal is all about.” Hendriks knows his team is the one to beat at Sydney, but was not taking victory for granted despite it’s astonishing success. “It is the most evenly-balanced competition in a long time,” he said. “Only a fool will predict a winner and I am not one.” Hendriks said his team would do well to emerge unscathed from the group of death in the preliminary league. “Germany, the Netherlands, Pakistan and Britain are all gold medal contenders, still only two among these will qualify for the semi-finals. “Even if we make it to the semis, we have hosts Australia, Spain, Korea and India to contend with from the other group. “You can only take it one match at a time,” Hendriks said, adding his immediate concern was Saturday’s opener against Britain. “The Brits are good, very good. We won at the Champions Trophy, but it was a close game. They fight very well,” he said. Hendriks, however, believes that he could not have done more to prepare his boys for the tough battles ahead. “Every team has prepared well to beat us. And we are ready inside. I guess that is the best way to defend,” he said. It sounded like an ominous warning for the rest. |
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SYDNEY, Sept 14 (Reuters) — U.S. weightlifter Suzanne Leathers swapped her dumb-bells for wedding chimes and married her coach Don McCauley at a Sydney ceremony today on the eve of the millennium Olympics. But Leathers’ golden day was also one of heartache. A reserve athlete on the U.S. team, the 75 kg class lifter found out just hours before sealing her marriage with a kiss that there would be no place for her in the Games competition. “It’s a good part of it,” Leathers said, when asked whether her marriage had made up for the disappointment. Leathers, 28, and McCauley (52) met seven years ago when a friend of the groom introduced them because he thought she would be a good Olympic lifter. The couple, both from Rhode Island, moved in early 1999 to Savannah, Georgia, where Leathers trains with the elite team Savannah. “I fell in love with weightlifting and over the years I built up a very friendly relationship with my coach,” Leathers said, adding that they had been dating for three years. She told reporters at the Bankstown Sports Club social centre in suburban Sydney, where warm-hearted Australians laid on the Olympic treat wedding, that tying the marriage knot was not quite as nerve-wracking as going for victory. “Competition is a little bit worse, but you’re able to do something. Here I had to stay still and say stuff,” she said. Several members of the U.S. Weightlifting team took part in the service as ushers and bridesmaids, including Robin Goad whose aptly named daughter Sydney, aged three, was among attendants. Women’s national team coach Michael Cohen gave Leathers away. “Most of the girls train in the same town and they’re one big family,” Cohen said. “The Olympics is a dream for everyone and this is part of it”. Leathers finished the selection process for Sydney ranked fifth overall in the USA, one slot below the cut-off for a certain place. She and McCauley had long planned to marry in Sydney after the Games had she been assured of competing. McCauley said he would make sure his bride switched out of her white wedding dress and back into training tomorrow — after a first night as husband and wife at a hotel outside the Olympic athletes’ village. The couple’s sights are now set on winning a medal at the Athens Games in 2004. “By then, I expect her to be one of the top two weightlifters in the USA,” McCauley said. Only Leathers’ sister Lauren was able to make the long journey to Sydney for the ceremony. But there will be no shortage of wedding photographs to show the folks back home, including shots of the couple smiling and kissing in front of the Olympic rings. “There’s more press here than Fleet Street,” remarked one Australian onlooker in a reference to the traditional home of British newspapers. “They look lovely.” |
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Sydney countdown — 73 IT was Michael Johnson’s birthday yesterday (September 13), but the day virtually did not exist for the man expected to be the superstar of the Sydney Games. Why? Because his travel from the USA to Sydney which began on Tuesday (September 12) ended in Sydney on Thursday (September 14), the crossing of the international date line swallowing what to him would have been his 32nd birthday. “I’m excited and ready to get to Sydney,” Johnson said before he boarded the aircraft. “The only downside to leaving on the 12th is that I arrive on the 14th and my birthday is on the 13th. So to make up for missing it, I’ll celebrate on both sides. Or maybe since I miss my birthday, I’ll still be 32 when I arrive in Sydney.” I’m excited and ready to get started competing,” the athlete they have nicknamed Superman said. “I’ve only been home for a week, but it was nice to get home to see my three-month-old son, older son Sebastian, and wife, Kerry. Johnson said he spent the week before departing for Sydney taking Sebastian to his four-month doctor’s appointment, shopping for warm clothes for him for Sydney, unpacking and repacking his bag, and, of course, working out. “Part of what’s made it (the last few weeks) really good is being home and spending more time at home this summer than I normally would, so I have been able to spend more time with Kerry and with Sebastian. So that’s been fun just hanging around with him at the house and not being gone, so I’ve enjoyed that. He’s just growing and starting to develop a little personality, so it’s been fun to watch that and just spend time with him. It’s been great. “And then they’ll join me in Sydney later on. So everything is working out pretty well. I do miss them a lot, but I’ll see them soon. “Training has gone well, and we’ll continue training in Sydney,” he said. “There’s lots of talk about whether I will break the world record (43.18) again in Sydney,” he says. But Johnson refuses to put pressure on himself: “I know I’m ready to run 42 seconds, and I run best at the major championships, but records are hard to break and require many things to fall into place just right. Like the weather. So we’ll just have to see. I won’t be disappointed if I don’t break it again, because I just want to win, and I already hold the world record. To do it again would be a great bonus. The Olympics are about winning, not breaking records.” After the US trials, in which he suffered a cramp in his hamstring in the 200-meter final, Johnson took a week off just rehabbing, doing a lot of deep-tissue massage and ultrasound. “ Most people have just been concerned with the injury and hopefully that it wasn’t too serious, which it wasn’t,” Johnson said. “So at this point, hopefully everyone will just get focused on that fact and get past that, because there’s nothing really to be concerned about at this point. We’ve got it back, got it back to 100 percent strength, and so now I’m just focused on the Olympics and winning the 400,” the champion athlete said. Johnson spent the early part of the 1998 season troubled by a sore hamstring. A massage therapist discovered that Johnson suffered from an imbalance in his hips and developed a rehab program for him. Johnson headed into the 1999 season relatively healthy, although he missed the nationals. He suffered a right leg injury at a meet in Stockholm, Sweden, at the end of July, but that did not stop him from turning in a record-breaking performance at the World Championships. Sadly Sydney will not witness Johnson in the 2000 because he pulled up with the injury and will not compete in that event in Sydney, but he qualified for the 400 in dominant fashion. Also failing to finish the race because of injury was rival Maurice Greene, the reigning world champion, thus eliminating what figured to be a thrilling showdown between the pair in Sydney. Everyone who witnessed Michael Johnson’s 200-meter victory at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics remembers the gold shoes. The world-record time: 19.32, nearly four-tenths of a second faster than anyone else in history. But it didn’t end there. Johnson also won the 400 meters in Atlanta, completing the first men’s 200/400 “double” in Olympic history. With his 4x400-meter relay triumph in Barcelona in 1992, he has three Olympic gold medals. Johnson was even more dominant at the World Championships, winning the 200 twice and the 400 four consecutive times. Just over three years after his historic performance in Atlanta, Johnson achieved the only goal to have eluded him. In the 400-meter final at the 1999 World Championships, his winning time of 43.18 seconds shaved .11 off Butch Reynolds’ 11-year-old world record in the event. The triumph also gave Johnson his fourth consecutive world title in the 400. Three days later, he anchored America’s gold medal-winning 4x400 relay team to become the first man in history to amass nine career golds at the worlds. With his rigid, upright style and minimal knee lift, Johnson has an unconventional sprinting form that has been likened to that of Jesse Owens. Johnson’s former high school coach, Joel Ezar, says, “He runs like a statue, straight up. They say his feet never leave the ground.” Johnson’s current coach, Clyde Hart explains: “Foot placement is a real key to speed. Many athletes place a foot slightly in front of their centre of gravity and that actually causes a blocking effect. Michael may give up a little in stride length but he never stops moving and his feet form nearly a complete circle.” Johnson’s career will come full circle if he can go out in a blaze of glory with a successful defence of his 400m Olympic gold and become the first man to run the distance in 42 seconds. — PMG |
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Winds may spell doom for Olympians SYDNEY, Sept 14 (AFP) — It’s spring in Sydney — the sun’s shining, but the wind can howl and Olympians in at least seven sports aren’t happy about it. They have voiced concern that Sydney’s September weather, the windiest month of the year, could literally blow away their medal hopes. Rowers, shooters, archers, runners, polevaulters, sailors and beach volleyballers have all expressed fears that blustery conditions could disrupt competition and in some cases reduce the outcome to a lottery. Ukraine’s Sergei Bubka, one of the most experienced competitors in Sydney, fears the swirling westerly winds could prove dangerous. “During the run-up the wind can blow in three different directions at the same time,” said Bubka, the world record polevaulter, of the main Olympic stadium. “You can cope with a regular wind but when it is blowing strongly, in gusts, and when it is changing direction it’s not nice and it’s even dangerous.” American track coach John Chaplin said: “If the wind changes, you could find yourself out of the Olympics.” Earlier this month, strong winds caused havoc at Olympic venues, halting practise sessions, causing damage and evacuations. Olympic sailors, caught unawares, suffered broken masts, prompting Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates to warn similar weather during the games could force rescheduling of events. Managers from several national rowing teams this week complained at a meeting of world body fisa that the gales could disrupt competition. |
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Bagan pip
JCT, enter final CALCUTTA, Sept 14 (PTI) — Strong contenders Mohun Bagan rode on a brilliant effort by medio Basudeb Mondal to edge out JCT Phagwara and romp into the final of the 106th IFA Shield Football Tournament here today. The hard-working Mondal produced an inswing left footer to find the target midway through the opening session to seal the fate of the millmen in a fast-paced encounter at the Salt Lake Stadium. Mohun Bagan will now clash with traditional rivals East Bengal in the final scheduled for Saturday. The all-important goal came in the 36th minute of the contest when Mondal broke through the defence and unleashed an in-swinging left footer from inside the box, giving no chance at all to the JCT custodian Baljit Singh. Trailing by a solitary goal at the interval, the millmen played their hearts out in the second session but failed to get the equaliser despite making a few forays into the rival defence. The green and maroon brigade enjoyed territorial advantage for most part of the proceedings but could not convert the opportunities into goals due to poor marksmanship. Bagan could have opened their account in the 34th minute but striker Jose Baretto’s attempt from inside the box flew over the crosspiece. The home team came close to the JCT goalmouth on five occasions in the opening session but their forwards invariably failed to get their act together inside the box. |
Horne hits 4th
Test ton BULAWAYO, Sept 14 (Reuters) — Matthew Horne scored his fourth Test century as New Zealand laboured to 180 for six in reply to Zimbabwe’s first innings 350 in the first Test today. Horne was out to the last ball before tea on the third day when he was trapped in front by a straight delivery from Paul Strang for 110 to become the leg spinner’s fifth victim of the innings. The New Zealand opener faced 277 balls and hit 13 fours. Strang, who dismissed
night watchman Paul Wiseman in the morning session, struck again 35 minutes into the second session when Stephen Fleming prodded a legside delivery to Gavin Rennie at short leg. Two balls later Nathan Astle was caught behind by wicketkeeper Andy Flower for nought to leave New Zealand on 139 for five. Horne and McMillan consolidated in a sixth-wicket stand of 41 that ended with Horne’s dismissal.
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Asian school
hockey at Ludhiana CHANDIGARH, Sept 14 — Punjab will host the next edition of the Asian Schools Hockey Championship from October 17 to 24, according to Mr P.S.Chhabra, secretary-general of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) and State Sports Organiser, Schools, Punjab. The matches of the tournament will be played on the newly installed Astro Turf surface at Ludhiana. Mr Chhabra disclosed that the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, as well as the Education Minister, Mr Tota Singh, had evinced keen interest in the tournament and had promised all help to the make the tournament a grand success. All units of the Asian Schools Sports Federation would be invited to field teams in the tournament, Mr Chhabra said. A special invitation would also be extended to Pakistan. A total of seven to eight teams were expected to take part in the championship where, Mr Chhabra promised, the participants would be provided with the best of facilities. Mr Chhabra said earlier the organisers were toying with the idea of holding the tournament at two venues. |
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China beat
Nigeria CANBERRA, Sept 14 (AFP) — Women’s football giants China got their Olympic campaign off to a winning start here today with a 3-1 win over Nigeria in their group F match. Two second-half goals from skipper Sun Wen helped seal victory for the Chinese, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics silver medallists and runners-up in last year’s World Cup. Sun showed why she is regarded as the finest female player in the world with a brace of goals after half-time. The first came when Jin Yan lofted a sweetly flighted ball over a static Nigerian defence for Sun to dart in and hook a deft shot past keeper Anna Chiejine in the 57th minute. The second came on 83 minutes when she curled in a text book freekick from near the edge of the penalty area. Nigeria scored a late consolation penalty through Perptua Nkwocha on 85 minutes. |
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3 athletes suspended from national camp PATIALA, Sept 14 — Three athletes attending the ongoing junior national athletic camp at the NIS here have been suspended from the camp, pending findings of the four-member inquiry committee set up by the NIS authorities. The suspension of the three athletes comes in the wake of the fracas which ensued in front of Yadavindra Hostel in the NIS complex on September 12. The athletes, who have been placed under suspension, are sprinter Jaspreet Singh, hammer thrower Bir Karan Singh and shot-putter Karamvir Singh. The three campers were allegedly involved in a fracas when nearly 25 odd outsiders barged their way into the NIS campus through the main gate before the authorities called in the police to placate prayed tempers. The inquiry panel is headed by senior SAI hockey coach and former Olympian Harmeek Singh, SAI athletic coach Harkamaljit Singh, Assistant Director A.Bhatia and SAI volleyball coash and warden of the hostel B.C. Joshi. The panel will be submitting its report to the Executive Director of the NIS
Lieut-Col. B.S. Ahluwalia, shortly.
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Punjab Police lose;
BSF enter final SRINAGAR, Sept 14 — Last year’s winners, BSF entered the final of the 49th B.N. Mullik Memorial All-India Police Football Championship defeating SSB 3-2 at Bakshi Stadium here today. In the other semifinal, Punjab Police, last year’s runners-up were humbled by Karnataka Police 1-0. The final will be played at Bakshi Stadium here on Friday. The championship was declared open by the Jammu and Kashmir Governor, Mr Girish Chandra Saxena here on September 4. This is for the first time that the championship, as also the £ national football meet is being played in Jammu and Kashmir. |
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IT was Michael Johnson’s birthday yesterday (September 13), but the day virtually did not exist for the man expected to be the superstar of the Sydney Games. Why? Because his travel from the USA to Sydney which began on Tuesday (September 12) ended in Sydney on Thursday (September 14), the crossing of the international date line swallowing what to him would have been his 32nd birthday. 
