 |
|
| Monday,
October 2, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
|
Games end amidst fun ‘n’ frolic Ethiopia end games with marathon gold Samaranch closes
‘best-ever’ games Setback for USA in boxing, basketball US boxers fail to win gold |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Fischer wins 7th gold, retires Hungary rout Russia to win gold
‘Eel’, ‘porpoise’ steal hearts Two more
athletes test positive British doctor wins pentathlon gold “Dream Team”
completes golden run Volleyball gold
for Yugoslavia Record 1000 flights from airport ‘Mondayitis’
set to hit Sydneysiders RCF, PSB move into semis Third time lucky for Randhawa
|
|
Games end amidst fun ‘n’ frolic SYDNEY, Oct 1 — The first Olympic Games of the new millennium went out with a bang here tonight. Unlike the previous Olympic Games, where closing ceremonies mark the end on a sober note , where athletes and officials normally bid a tearful farewell to the host city, it was all “partying time” at the Olympic Stadium here instead. There were no “tearful adieus”. Instead fun and frolic marked the closing of an event that saw several new records set with Games regaining their “noble look”. Some of the athletes of yesteryears, including Sergei Bubka of Ukraine, and others were felicitated as the Olympic flag was handed over to the Mayor of Athens in a solemn and brief ceremony. It all started at the conclusion of the marathon where two of the three medallists were from Ethiopia. For India, the games were perhaps a big disappointment as the 70-odd member squad returned home with a lone bronze medal won by woman weightlifter, K. Malleshwari. Four years ago, it was only Leander Paes who won a bronze for the country. The games will return to their home at Athens four years from now. From Neil Gladwin’s “Lawnmower Man” that kicked off the ceremony by poking fun at the serious world of officials and protocol, through the poignant moments as the flame flickers and dies, to the glamour, high energy and heavy rock of the party, the ceremony was outrageous fun, and a roller-coaster experience for everyone. The organisers were unable to sell all the tickets and instead they allotted nearly 5,000 tickets worth Australian dollars 7 million among volunteers on first-come first served basis. Still, many seats were left vacant in the huge Olympic stadium. Three-and-a-half hour
spectacular saw the athletes staying in the arena for the “farewell party”, surrounding the main stage at the centre of the field. At times, they did join the dancing, fun and frolic and the spillover of the celebrations extended even to stands where many swayed to the popular numbers and music. As the athletes gathered en masse in a celebration of their new friendships and their achievements, both the IOC President and the President of the SOCOG, had in their brief discourses shared their parting thoughts of the games. The Greek national flag was raised, after Greek representatives were invited to the podium from where they extended an invitation to the entire world for the next Games, four years from now. Priestesses from the ancient city of Athens performed a solemn and musical ceremony to take the flag from the mayor of Sydney to their home. Finally, the games were officially declared closed, the Olympic flame lit on September 15 at the cauldrom here, was extinguished and the Olympic flag was lowered. In a dramatic moment, an F-111 fighter jet thundered over the Olympic Stadium, symbolically carrying the Olympic flame into the night sky to signal the start of the party featuring world famous celebrities from sport, music, film and entertainment. Seven thousand performers, including 1,000 ballroom dancers and 4,000 New South Wales school performers combined to create the biggest and perhaps the best closing ceremony in the history. The focus of the ceremony was the versatile, constantly changing, stage at the centre of the
field. The stage a “huge geo dome”, made up of 12 five-sided panels that could lie flat, rise into a dome and were elevated upto 30 metres into the air. As the fluorescence and glitter of ballroom changed to the world of rock ‘n’ roll, Tommy and Phil Emmanuel, INXS, Jimmy Barnes, Midnight Oil and Yothu Yindi were introduced. Then there
were huge inflatable figures, including McKangaroo, telegraph pole head, beer monster, Frankenstein’s kangaroo, and Australian Jesus that floated above and around the arena. Then came the parade of icons — a series of images and performances each representing a slice of Australian lifestyle. Pop diva Kylie Minogue took on beach culture; Greg ‘the shark’ Noman championed sporting prowess; Elle the body MacPherson brought the glamour of high fashion from the catwalk to the
stadium; Paul Hogan Crocodile Dundee brought Australia’s outback to life, children’s television favourites “Bananas in Pyjamas” and mischief and fun; and drag queens celebrated the international film sensation Priscilla — Queen of the Desert. Kylie then returned to perform her new single “On a night like this”. The ceremony concluded with the country singing legend Slim Dusty, who was joined by all the stars, the athletes and the audience at large, performing Australia’s unofficial national anthem. “Waltzing Matilda” and fireworks throughout the length of the Sydney Harbour, brought the Olympic fortnight to a spectacular close. While the ceremony was officially declared closed, music continued to the played on and the athletes preferred to stay and dance before saying good bye to Sydney. |
|
Ethiopia end games with marathon gold SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters) —Gezahgne Abera won the men’s marathon today to seal the Sydney Olympics track and field programme and complete Ethiopia’s domination of the distance events at the games. Abera, compatriot Tesfaye Tola and Kenyan Eric Wainaina, the 1996 Olympics marathon bronze medallist, broke clear in the last seven of the 42.195 km race on an undulating course. But after Wainaina attacked to shake off Tola, the 22-year-old Abera stepped up the pace further over the final 2 km to win by 90 metres in two hours 10 minutes 11 seconds. Wainaina, controversially selected after Kenya dropped all three of their original choices for not training hard enough, was second in 2:10.31, with Tola holding off Briton Jon Brown to take bronze in 2:11.10. Tola, after celebrating with Abera, said: “We had a plan to work together up to a certain point. “But I couldn’t keep up with the Kenyan and told him (Abera) to go ahead.’’ The victory capped a marvellous programme by Ethiopia’s distance runners. Haile Gebrselassie won the men’s 10,000 metres, Derartu Tulu the women’s 10,000 and Millon Wolde the men’s 5,000. It was Ethiopia’s first marathon success since 1968, when Mamo Wolde’s gold in Mexico City followed up Abebe Bikila’s back-to-back triumphs. Wainaina said: “It was a very tough course and nobody wanted to take the lead because of the wind. I was feeling great so I decided to go for it. “I have an olympic bronze and silver — now I want the gold.’’ In Sunday’s race the three medallists were always in the main pack as the 98-man field set off from north Sydney at 4
P.M. Local time. The surprise early leader was Botswanan Tiaypo Maso, who hit the front from the start and pounded his way to 10 km on a world best schedule of just under 30 minutes and was soon almost a minute-and-a-half ahead of the pack. The temperature was a relatively comfortable 21 degrees Celsius but blustery winds, combined with a tough course, indicated that Maso, with a best of 2:17.00, would soon slow. The 27-year-old reached halfway in 1:04.27, 35 seconds clear, but his pace rapidly dropped and he was swallowed up by a group of around 20 runners soon after as the race looped through the city centre, where large crowds filled every available space. The real race then began as the runners approached Anzac Bridge and a hit a tough hill, immediately stringing out the field. Wainaina, Gezahgne and Tola started to wind it up and a series of runners dropped off the back, among them Martin Fiz of Spain, fourth in Atlanta. His heavily-fancied team-mate Abel Anton, double world champion, was never in contention and nor was Portuguese hope Antonio Pinto. By 32 km only Brown was able to stay with the three Africans but he dropped off approaching the 35km mark. Wainaina put another burst in at the 38km mark which was too much for Tola. However, Abera stayed with him and then hit the front himself approaching 40km and quickly opened a telling 15-metre lead which he stretched through the throng of Olympic Park. |
|
Samaranch closes
‘best-ever’ games SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters) — IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch closed the Sydney Olympics today, declaring it “the best Olympic Games ever”. Samaranch formally ended the games at the closing ceremony in Stadium Australia before 110,000
spectators and thousands of athletes. The 80-year-old IOC leader, who retires next year, said: “These are my last games as
IOC president. They could not have been better. Therefore, I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world the best Olympic games ever.” Samaranch started his speech with a rare joke and a tribute to the enthusiastic support of Australians for the Sydney Games. “Seven years ago, I said: ‘and the winner
is. Sydney’. Well, what can I say now? Maybe, with my Spanish accent: Aussie, Aussie, Aussie “To you, all the people of Sydney and Australia, we say: these have been your games.” |
|
Setback for USA in boxing, basketball SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters) — The USA finished the Sydney Olympics today in their usual dominant position at the top of the medals table but their prestige was dented on the final day in the boxing and basketball. The medals table at the end of 17 days showed the USA on top with 39 gold medals ahead of Russia with 32 and China with 28. But the Americans failed to bring home an Olympic boxing gold medal for the first time since 1948, as their once fabled boxing tradition, stretching from Floyd Patterson to Muhammad Ali, was painfully undermined. Their performance in the men’s basketball, where the USA were runaway favourites, also appeared lacklustre. They beat France 85-75 in the final but lost their aura of invincibility and raised the prospect of an end to a decade of American dominance since NBA stars began competing in 1992. They had never won by fewer than 22 points in Olympics matches since the Barcelona Games. But in Sydney their winning margin in four of their last five games was 15 points or less and they scraped to victory over Lithuania in the semifinal by only two points. The USA, long dominant in the Olympics, came to Sydney with high hopes and several of them were dashed. Sprint star Marion Jones fell short of her goal of an unprecedented five track and field gold medals, taking three gold and two bronze. The Americans failed to break any records on the track despite the presence of the great Maurice Greene in the 100 metres and 4x100 metres relay, where he won two gold medals. But if high American expectations were somewhat disappointed, the more modest aspirations of Britain received a boost on Sunday when Audley Harrison won the super-heavyweight boxing title to grab his country’s 10th gold of the games. Harrison beat Kazakhstan’s Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov convincingly to become the first British boxing gold medallist since middleweight Chris Finnegan in Mexico in 1968. He was the first Briton to win in the maximum weight class since Ronald Rawson in 1920. In the marathon, last event of the millennium games, Gezahgne Abera cemented Ethiopian dominance of distance events with a classy victory in the difficult race over a hilly course that took in many of Sydney’s famous landmarks, including the Harbour Bridge. Drugs, constantly threatening to spoil the show at the millennium games, also made an appearance on the final day with Olympic leaders announcing two new positive results in tests for steroids. One of them was Armenian weightlifter Ashot Danielyan who was stripped of his bronze medal in the super-heavyweight division, the fourth lifter to forfeit a medal. The other positive test was from Norwegian Fritz Aanes, who came fourth in the 85 kg greco-roman wrestling. He was disqualified. The number of positive cases in competition tests at the games stood at seven on Sunday. But there were still samples to be analysed from the last few days of the Olympics. The USA, attacked by Olympic leaders earlier in the games for allegedly hiding positive drug tests from its high-profile athletes, came under more fire today. Olympics anti-doping chief Arne Ljungqvist said US athletics officials handled two positive tests for the steroid nandrolone in the last two years but handed out no sanctions. Ljungqvist, who is putting pressure on US Track and Field chiefs to explain 10 suspicious cases, said it was worrying that American authorities had taken the decisions to exonerate without informing world sports authorities. Despite bright sunshine, the final day was marked by high winds which forced postponement of the canoe and kayak finals for six hours until the afternoon. The Games organisers were determined to avoid an anti-climax after one of the most successful games ever and were planning a spectacular fireworks display over the harbour tonight. The Olympic organisers want the Sydney Games to go out with a bang — with an expected global live television audience of 3.5 billion and a crowd of more than a million round the Harbour Bridge. A low-flying Australian air force fighter was due to ignite a massive plume of flame to trigger off a huge firework display across the city from the Homebush Bay Olympic Complex in the west to the Harbour. |
|
US boxers fail to win gold SYDNEY, Oct 1 (AFP) — The USA, which came here as the most heralded boxing team in the modern era, leave the Sydney Olympics without a gold medal for the first time in more than half a century. The Americans depart seething over the refereeing of one of their bouts and the judges’ scoring of another, while fierce rivals Cuba come away with four gold medallists. World featherweight champion Ricardo Juarez and light-welterweight Ricardo Williams were beaten in today’s finals leaving the USA with two silver and two bronze medals. That is two fewer medals than they won in Atlanta four years ago and one more than they got at Barcelona in 1992. The International Boxing Federation later suspended Russian referee Stanislav Kirsanov for four years but dismissed a US protest against the result of the Juarez fight. USA Boxing had protested to the federation over what they saw as the referee’s failure to take points off Bekzat Sattarkhanov for persistent holding and grabbing in the final two rounds and the result of the final. “We asked for the referee to be suspended from the AIBA (boxing federation). This is a travesty, another outrageous decision. The referee was simply not doing his job,” fumed USA Boxing President Gary Toney. What will gall the Americans most is that this is the first time since the 1948 London games that they haven’t won a gold medal at an Olympic boxing tournament. Horace Herring won a sole silver medallist 52 years ago. While the USA were livid, Thailand savoured only their second gold medallist at the Olympics with the victory of flyweight Wijan Ponlid and super-heavyweight Audley Harrison claimed Great Britain’s first Olympic boxing gold in 32 years. Featherweight Somluck Kamsing became the hero of Thailand when he won the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. Kazakhstan picked up two golds with Yermakhan Ibraimov in the light-middleweight and Sattarkhanov’s win. Mahammadkadyz Abdullayev won Uzbekistan’s only gold of the event and in the process stopped USA’s last chance for a win with a 27-20 decision over Ricardo Williams in the light-welterweights. Williams was critical of the judges’ scoring. Rugged Russian Alexandre Lebziak outpointed Czech Rudolf Kraj to win the light-heavyweight crown, while compatriot Oleg Saitov was named the boxer of the tournament after winning his second welterweight gold medal yesterday. World champion Ricardo Juarez suffered his first defeat in 69 bouts when he went down 22-14 to Sattarkhanov. Sattarkhanov accumulated a big points lead, holding a 20-13 advantage going into the final round but angered the Americans by consistently holding on to his opponent in the clinches without being penalised by referee Kirsanov. WBA heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield weighed in criticising the performance of the referee. “He (Juarez) had a dream and I would have protested too, the referee should be there to insure that the guys abide by the regulations - how can you keep warning somebody and not do anything?” said Holyfield. “He just wouldn’t let our guy do his job.” While the Americans were snarling, Lebziak, the teak-like
Russian fighter, was enraptured with his gold medal. |
|
Fischer wins 7th gold, retires SYDNEY, Sept 30 (AFP) — All-time canoeing great Birgit Fischer closed the Olympic regatta and her epic career on Sunday the way it all began 20 years ago, winning the women’s kayak pairs 500 metre race. Not even the ferocious wind, which caused havoc on the course and delayed the start of racing by six hours, nor the gold superiority of Hungary could blow the gloss off the 38-year-old German’s remarkable achievements. It was Fischer’s second gold in Sydney, following her win in the women’s kayak four yesterday, and the seventh gold in an Olympic career which began in Moscow in 1980. With the wind howling at over 50kmh (30mph), conditions were tough, but Fischer made it look so easy as she partnered Katrin Wagner to an emphatic start-to-finish pairs victory, stressing her domination of women’s kayaking. Their 1.6 second winning margin was by far the biggest of any final on a day of close finishes. With seven golds and seven silver Olympic medals, as well as 27 world championship titles the remarkable Fischer cried enough. With her 10 medals Fischer is the most successful male or female Olympic canoeist, and her seventh gold made her Germany’s most successful Olympian putting her one ahead of equestrian Reiner Klimke and Swimmer Kristin Otto. Just as Fischer was the star of the women’s events, Norway’s Knut Holmann was the outstanding male canoeist. A day after defending his k1 singles 1,000 Olympic title, he added the 500m gold to his collection after passing Bulgarian Petar Merkov in the final 100 metres to win by 0.45 seconds. It was the first time Holmann had won the double, after finishing second in the 500m at the Atlanta games and third in Barcelona. That there was any racing at all today was a feat in itself. The placid waters from early in the week were replaced by white-caps. After racing was delayed first for an hour, then three hours, the International Canoe Federation considered bringing in lights to race at night if the wind calmed down. A request to the International Olympic Committee to reschedule the last six finals for tomorrow was initially rejected before
IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch intervened and approved Monday racing if all else failed. But with several teams including Russia and Poland due to fly home tonight the
ICF eventually agreed to start to a 3:00pm, six hours later than scheduled and in conditions canoeists would not normally tolerate. “My biggest fear was falling out of my boat, so my coach taped me in. I would never go out training in these conditions,” said Australian Katrin
Bircher, who finished third behind gold medallist Josef Idem Gering of Italy and Canadian Caroline Brunet in the women’s singles kayak 500. Hungarian Imre Pulai who partnered Ferenc Novak in the victorious Hungarian canoeing 500m final, the third of Hungary’s three gold medals on the day, also expressed concern. Gyorgy Kolonics won the canoeing singles 500m for Hungary, while Zoltan Kammerer and Botond Storcz won the kayak pairs 500m. Australian kayak pair Andrew Trim and Daniel Collins were a narrow 0.84 of a second behind the Hungarians for the silver medal. |
|
Hungary rout Russia to win gold SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters) — Tibor Benedek, who nearly missed the games because of a drugs ban, led Hungary to Olympic water polo gold today, scoring four goals as his team routed Russia 13-6 in a final which evoked memories of the cold war. When Hungary and Russia last met in an Australian Olympics at the 1956 Melbourne games, Soviet troops had invaded Hungary only weeks before to crush a revolt against Communist rule and their match ended in a brawl. Hungary won the gold and the Soviet Union the bronze. There was no such drama in the Sydney final, with the Hungarians taking charge after Benedek scored the first goal late in the first quarter and turning it into one of the most one-sided finals ever. Benedek would have missed the Olympics if a 15-month ban dating from August 1999 and imposed by the sport’s governing body FINA had stood. The FINA had overruled an eight-month suspension set by the Italian federation when the player tested positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol at a match involving his Italian club Roma. But in January this year the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced the suspension on appeal to eight months. Benedek was ably abetted in the firing line by Gergely Kiss, who scored three goals, and Attila Vari and Tamas Molnar, who netted two each. Tamas Kasas and Peter Biros were Hungary’s other scorers with one apiece. Alexander Erychov was Russia’s top scorer with three goals in the final. Yugoslavia took the bronze medal, winning 8-3 in the match for third place against 1996 champions Spain, who lost their Olympic title when they were beaten 8-7 by Russia in the semifinals yesterday. The match marked the international farewell of Spain’s Manuel Estiarte, who turns 39 later this month and has played at six Olympics, making a total of 601 appearances for his country. Estiarte, who scored twice today, entered the international arena 23 years ago at the 1977 European championships. He made his Olympic debut in Moscow in 1980 and played a major part in getting Spain to two finals. They took the silver in 1992 and the gold in 1996. Hungary, who lost two of their preliminary round matches in Sydney, were superb in the final. In their 1956 clash with the Russians, the brawling game was abandoned, with the Hungarians leading 4-0. Police, fearing a riot, moved in when spectators turned on the Soviet team. Hungary retained the Olympic title that year and won again in 1964 and 1976. The Soviet Union won the gold and Hungary the silver at the 1972 Munich games and the Soviet team won again in 1980. Today’s encounter was the first time either team had appeared in an Olympic water polo final since then. The Hungarians came through a bitter quarterfinal clash with 1992 Olympic champions Italy which ended with a furious outburst from Italy’s coach Ratko Rudic and several of his players. Rudic was banned by the FINA for a year, covering the rest of these Olympics and all competitions organised by the FINA, for bringing the game into disrepute when he accused the referees of bias. The Sydney games also saw the first olympic women’s water polo tournament, which was won by the hosts Australia, who beat the USA in the final eight days ago. |
|
Hoop disaster hands gold to Barsukova SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters) — Russia’s Yulia Barsukova grabbed the rhythmic gymnastics all-round Olympic gold medal today when world champion Alina Kabaeva’s hoop spun wildly off the mat to ruin her victory chance. Barsukova, who has performed exhibitions at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, took top spot with a consistent performance through all four rotations - rope, hoop, ball and ribbon, to post a winning mark of 39.632. Yulia Raskina of Belarus took the silver with 39.548 while Kabaeva rallied to take the bronze on 39.466. Having already posted perfect scores of 40.000 in competition this year, Russian Kabaeva, the world and European champion and the sport’s superstar, had looked poised to add the Olympic title to her long list of honours. But on the second rotation, Kabaeva committed a major error, her hoop spinning off the mat, the Russian in hot pursuit. A mark of 9.641, the second worse of the 10 competitors, sent Kabaeva plummeting down the rankings into fifth place. “I
could not understand what happened,’’ said Kabaeva. ‘’I relaxed my hand...I just didn’t think I could make such an error.’’ In a sport where competitors are marked on their flexibility, Kabaeva literally bent over backwards for judges, scratching the top of her head with her feet. That helped the 17-year-old bounce back from her disaster with the hoop to score top marks of 9.950 on both the ball and ribbon. She also recorded the best score with the rope but even three-near perfect routines were still not enough to make up the lost ground. Gold medallist Barsukova said of her victory: “It’s hard to believe, I really didn’t expect to win the gold. I had hoped to win but I never thought it was possible. I just wanted to be in the top three.’’ Her victory extended the eastern European domination of the sport. Since rhythmic gymnastics was introduced at the 1984 Los Angeles games, a gymnasts from Russia or the former-Soviet Union has walked away with three of four gold medals. Canada’s Lori Fung is the only other gymnast to claim gold, taking top spot on the podium in 1984. The eastern European domination is even more profound at the world championships with all the places on the podium since 1975 having been occupied by gymnasts from just four countries, Russia, Bulgaria, Belarus and Ukraine. Fourth place on Sunday went to Olena Vitrichenko, the 1997 world champion and a bronze medallist in Atlanta. Vitrichenko was at the centre of a scoring scandal at the European championships earlier this year when an apparent judging conspiracy placed her 19th in preliminaries and she withdrew in protest. An investigation by the International Gymnastics Federation uncovered widespread incompetence and resulted in eight judges being banned from working at the Sydney Olympics while six others received one-year suspensions. |
|
‘Eel’, ‘porpoise’ steal hearts SYDNEY, Oct 1 (AFP) — The pre-games hype had been about all about sharks in Sydney Harbour — but the real stars of the Sydney Olympics turned out to be an eel and a porpoise. Eric “the eel” Moussambani and Paula “the porpoise” Barila Bolopa, two swimmers from tiny Equatorial Guinea, arrived in Sydney as total unknowns. But in the best Olympic tradition of hopeless British ski-jumper Eddie “the eagle” Edwards, the outclassed freestylers left the games as much-loved cult figures. Moussambani had struggled to fund his Olympic campaign. He departed Sydney with his swimming goggles being auctioned off for more than $ 3,000 and sports goods firms lining up sponsorship deals. Fame came after the 22-year-old finished his 100-metres freestyle heat nearly 50 seconds behind the last of the 70 other swimmers in his event to earn a standing ovation and one of the loudest roars of the entire Olympics. Barila Bolopa was similarly overwhelmed, completing her 50 metres freestyle in 1 minute 03.97 seconds, roughly equivalent to a track star taking 20 seconds to run the 100m. “It was further than I thought,” Barila Bolopa said after her swim. Although the most prominent of the Sydney Olympics outclassed no-hopers, Moussambani and Barila Bolopa were far from alone amongst athletes who won over the fans. Benin tennis player Christophe Pognon, who only started playing tennis full-time last year, touched spectators when he was swept aside by Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten 6-1, 6-1. Far from being downhearted after the 38-minute rout, a happy Pognon delved into his bag for a camera which he then presented to a ballgirl who snapped his picture for posterity. “It was a golden opportunity for me to play in the Olympics and I’m just happy to have been here,” said the 22-year-old. Competitors from the tiny former Indonesian territory of East Timor also warmed the hearts of Sydneysiders. Pint-sized weightlifter Martinho De Araujo made history and brought the house down by becoming the first East Timorese to compete in an Olympics. He finished the 56kg category in a resounding last place, more than 100kg behind the eventual winning total. But in the best traditions of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, it was again the taking part that mattered. But not all of the minnows will have such happy memories of the Sydney games. De Araujo’s compatriot, boxer Victor Ramos, endured a shortlived and painful Olympics. |
|
Two more
athletes test positive SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters) — An Armenian and a Norwegian athlete have tested positive for drugs, taking the number of Olympic athletes caught taking banned substances in competition in Sydney to seven, an IOC medical commission official said today. Armenian weightlifter Ashot Danielyan has been stripped of the bronze medal he won last Tuesday in the super heavyweight division, said Patrick Schamach of the International Olympic Committee. He tested positive for the steroid stanozolol. Norwegian wrestler Fritz Aanes, who came fourth in the 85 kg Greco-Roman wrestling had also tested positive in competition for drugs, he told reporters. He said Russian 400 metres runner Svetlana Pospelova, who tested positive for steroids during an out-of-competition test during the games, had been disqualified. |
|
British doctor wins pentathlon gold SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters) — British doctor Stephanie Cook raced past seven front-runners to win the 3,000 metres pursuit race in dramatic style and grab the inaugural Olympic gold in the women’s modern pentathlon today. Compatriot Kate Allenby crossed the line third to make it a surprise double for Britain in one of the most gruelling events at the games which requires mastery of shooting, fencing, swimming, equestrian and running. American Emily Deriel took the silver having dominated the all-day contest until the last 400 metres of the run, when Cook flew past after a race she paced to perfection. Nobody seemed more surprised than Cook (28), who until just a few years ago considered pentathlon a hobby that distracted her from a busy career as a physician. “Gold medal guys,” she chirped at a pack of British reporters, holding it aloft. “I’m just speechless — I can’t believe it.” She began the race 49 seconds behind Deriel on a staggered start based on earlier points accumulated. Her win was all the more remarkable since earlier in the day she exhausted herself with a personal best time in the swimming pool over 200 metres. “I had to believe I could do it and I just went out there and ran. I didn’t stop until I crossed the finish line,” she said. On the medals podium it was a reunion of old college mates: Cook and Deriel both studied at Britain’s Oxford University, and were on the same pentathlon team. Deriel studied medieval English literature in between practising for an event that was one of the highlights of the ancient Olympics for 900 years but was long considered too physically punishing for women. She set herself up for the run with the best performance among 28 competitors in equestrian, making it around a challenging course with just 30 penalty points for knocking down a single bar. Three riders were disqualified after falls, and Italian Fabiana Fares was carried off on a stretcher. Deriel confessed she spent the entire race waiting for the sound of Cook’s heavy breathing over her shoulder. “I was waiting for Steph to pass me,” she said. “I was thinking not to die — just hang in there and finish.” Allenby dug in close behind Deriel for the whole race and never managed to mount a challenge. After the race the two jubilant British women draped themselves in a Union Jack and did a lap of honour in front of ecstatic fans and family around a baseball pitch used for the equestrian and later improvised for the run. Cook had been contemplating retiring from the sport to devote herself to French-based medical aid group
Medicine Sans Frontiere, which operates in war zones. But after her win — which by definition established a new Olympic record — she said with a grin: “I think I might have to rethink my life.” Modern pentathlon is based on the idea of a soldier messenger who must ride an unfamiliar horse, fight a duel, shoot out of trouble, swim across a river and then run. It had a great supporter in Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founding father of the modern games. But current Olympic chief Juan Antonio Samaranch was no great fan and had threatened to pull it from the games’ already crowded calendar because of limited spectator appeal. |
|
Given in the following order: Country, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Total USA 39 25 33 97 Russia 32 28 28 88 China 28 16 15 59 Australia 16 25 17 58 Germany 14 17 26 57 France 13 14 11 38 Italy 13 8 13 34 Netherlands 12 9 4 25 Cuba 11 11 7 29 Great Britain 11 10 7 28 Romania 11 6 9 26 South Korea 8 9 11 28 Hungary 8 6 3 17 Poland 6 5 3 14 Japan 5 8 5 18 Bulgaria 5 6 2 13 Greece 4 6 3 13 Sweden 4 5 3 12 Norway 4 3 3 10 Ethiopia 4 1 3 8 Ukraine 3 10 10 23 Kazakhstan 3 4 0 7 Belarus 3 3 11 17 Canada 3 3 8 14 Spain 3 3 5 11 Iran 3 0 1 4 Turkey 3 0 1 4 Czech Republic 2 3 3 8 Kenya 2 3 2 7 Denmark 2 3 1 6 Finland 2 1 1 4 Austria 2 1 0 3 Lithuania 2 0 3 5 Azerbaijan 2 0 1 3 Slovenia 2 0 0 2 Switzerland 1 6 2 9 Indonesia 1 3 2 6 Slovakia 1 3 1 5 Mexico 1 2 3 6 Algeria 1 1 3 5 Uzbekistan 1 1 2 4 Latvia 1 1 1 3 Yugoslavia 1 1 1 3 Bahamas 1 1 0 2 New Zealand 1 0 3 4 Estonia 1 0 2 3 Thailand 1 0 2 3 Croatia 1 0 1 2 Cameroon 1 0 0 1 Colombia 1 0 0 1 Mozambique 1 0 0 1 Brazil 0 6 6 12 Jamaica 0 4 3 7 Nigeria 0 3 0 3 Belgium 0 2 3 5 South Africa 0 2 3 5 Argentina 0 2 2 4 Morocco 0 1 4 5 Chinese Taipei 0 1 4 5 North Korea 0 1 3 4 Moldova 0 1 1 2 Saudi Arabia 0 1 1 2 Trinidad and 0 1 1 2 Tobago Ireland 0 1 0 1 Uruguay 0 1 0 1 Vietnam 0 1 0 1 Georgia 0 0 6 6 Costa Rica 0 0 2 2 Portugal 0 0 2 2 Armenia 0 0 1 1 Barbados 0 0 1 1 Chile 0 0 1 1 Iceland 0 0 1 1 India 0 0 1 1 Israel 0 0 1 1 Kyrgyzstan 0 0 1 1 Kuwait 0 0 1 1 Macedonia 0 0 1 1 Qatar 0 0 1 1 Sri Lanka 0 0 1 1 |
|
“Dream Team”
completes golden run SYDNEY, Oct 1 (AFP) — The USA’s “Dream Team”, led by 13 points each from Vince Carter and Ray Allen, fought off a second-half challenge to defeat France 85-75 here today in the Olympic men’s basketball gold medal final. It was the third consecutive US Olympic title since the “Dream Team” concept began in 1992 and 12th US gold medal since the sport’s 1936 Olympic debut. France settled for silver, equalling its only prior men’s hoop medal from 1948. Two days after narrowly escaping an epic upset with an 85-83 semifinal triumph over Lithuania, the US collection of National Basketball Association stars struggled again. The Americans, who beat France 106-94 in qualifying, pulled ahead early only to squander most of a 17-point lead to France the way they did all of a 14-point edge on Lithuania. |
|
Volleyball gold
for Yugoslavia SYDNEY, Oct 1 (Reuters) — Yugoslavia won gold in an exciting Olympic men’s volleyball final today, combining power and subtlety to beat Russia in straight sets. The Yugoslavs triumphed 25-22 25-22 25-20 to force the Russian side, ranked number one in the world, to settle for silver. Italy comfortably defeated Argentina 25-16 25-15 25-18 in the third-place playoff to take bronze. The high-class final was fought out in a vibrant atmosphere bolstered by members of Australia’s Yugoslavian and Russian communities among the 9,000 crowd, who sported their national colours, waved flags and chanted loudly. “I’m really satisfied with the way my team played. It seemed that whatever was needed to win the game, it would be done,” Yugoslav coach Zoran Gajic said after the match. Ivan Miljkovic smashed down the unstoppable spike which gave the Yugoslavs the final point they needed for victory in a third set which had become one-sided towards the end. |
|
Record 1000
flights from airport SYDNEY, Oct 1 — Tomorrow, Gandhi Jayanti back home, will be one of the busiest days in the history of Sydney International Airport as more than 44,000 passengers are expected to use the facilities to depart or arrive in the post-Olympic rush. There will be a record 1000 flights and double the amount of normal traffic as teams, officials and media personnel make their journeys home after the conclusion of the games. In fact outflow of traffic of Olympic family members started yesterday. As there was a mad rush for special tickets, needed along with the accreditation cards to enter the Olympic stadium for the closing ceremony, the organisers decide to give away 5,000 tickets to volunteer because these could not be sold. In all, 47,000 volunteers had helped the organising committee in successful conduct of the first games of the new millennium. The A-class tickets — valued at Australian dollars 1382 each, or a total of Australian dollars 7 million — were allocated on a first come, first served basis. The 47,000-strong volunteer force queued at one of the five main Olympic venues. The tickets, the organisers said, remained unsold as the people preferred to watch the spectacular fireworks show at Sydney Harbor area than sitting inside the Olympic stadium. The applause has virtually died, as the streets were deserted and the rail station was virtually empty even 24 hours before the closing ceremony was to start. Athletes, officials and media personnel from India were often greeted at most of the venues with “Sat Sri Akal” and “Namaste” by volunteers of Indian origin. At some of the venues, even Australians would greet Indians with “Namaste” and “Sat Sri Akal”. More than 2,000 of total volunteers were of Indian origin. Then there are lots of Indo-Australians in police here and working for various private security agencies. Security arrangements at all venues were immaculate. All visitors, including media personnel, had to get their bags searched every time they entered an Olympic venue. Most of the venue were closed to everyone, including media, at midnight of the last day of the competitions. This led to closure of media centres at venues also as the rush was witnessed at the Main Press Centre during the last few days of the games. |
|
|
‘Mondayitis’ set to hit Sydneysiders SYDNEY, Oct 1 — Have you ever heard of “Mondayitis”? The term may sound little odd and irrelevant as one talks about the Olympic Games. But it is not. The Australian newspapers here are full of stories on “Mondayitis” — a phenomenon if not a disease common to the western world — as both psychologists and psychiatrists apprehend that incidence of “depression” would shoot up in Sydney where people on waking up on Monday would find the Olympics to have left the city. The Sunday Morning Herald in its Sundays’ Olympic special has cautioned the Australians in general and people of Sydney in particular for the worst ever case of “Mondayitis” ever since the western world invented the concept of “weekend”. “A wave of post-games is expected to hit as Sydneysiders wake up the morning after, and counsellors and therapists are gearing up to cope with depression, relationship break-ups and career crises. Suddenly all the fun and euphoria is dead and people will feel flat, lethargic and depressed, and wonder what on earth to do with themselves,” the newspaper said quoting organisational psychologist Helen Crossing. “These games have involved and affected a lot of people, and many will next week start re-evaluating their lives in the light of the experience they have just had,” she is reported to have told the newspaper. Other newspapers here, too, have run similar stories. One of the sports psychologists has been quoted in one of the news reports as saying that “the end of the games will have an effect ‘somewhat like what came after the World War II. There is the high emotion, then the realisation that we have to get on with the life’.” Interestingly, all the Australian athletes, officials and volunteers, who took part in the games, will receive counselling to cope with what, for some, has been the end of the most important period in their lives, but others will have to fend for themselves. The counselling groups are preparing to deal with a surge in client numbers and are warning people to avoid making big decisions about changing their lives without taking time to think them enough, the reports said. Another issue raised in the media here has been the reaction of athletes and officials to the results. One of the women athletes of Australia, who failed to get a gold medal, went to the
extent of saying that she felt like “shooting herself”. Brent Livemore, the number 15 Australian hockey player, whose penalty stroke was diverted by the Netherlands’ goalkeeper Ronald Jansen, in the penalty shootout in the semifinals, had to be virtually escorted out of the ground as he is reported to be still in a state of shock. He still gets nightmares of that evening and may perhaps would never be able to put this “failure” behind him. “Such incidents haunt you for rest of life,” admit sports psychologists contending that it is very difficult for one to leave the past abruptly and start afresh. The sports psycholgists and counsellors agree that it is a disturbing phenomenon as the age old adage of “sportsman’s spirit” has lost its meaning and significance in the present day competitive sports world where only winners get recognised. While the sportsmen and women take their success and failures seriously, the team officials, too have been taking prompt decisions, accepting responsibilities for “failures” and making room for their
successors. Perhaps India has a lesson to learn from the rest of the world in this regard. |
|
|
RCF, PSB move into semis CHANDIGARH, Oct 1 — Defending champions Air-India, Mumbai, went down fighting to Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, 3-4 via the tie-breaker after being held goal-less in regulation time while strong and sturdy Punjab and Sind Bank, banking on experience, rallied to down Central Industrial Security Force 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the 30th SN Vohra All-India Gurmit Memorial Hockey Tournament at the Sector 18 hockey stadium here today. In the semifinals to be played tomorrow, Punjab and Sind Bank will take on Border Security Force while Punjab Police will cross swords with Rail Coach Factory to decide the finalists of the tournament, categorised in grade ‘A’ by the Indian Hockey Federation. In the first match today, both RCF and Air-India struggled to gain the upper hand. Air-India,with several internationals in their ranks, including Edgar Mascarenhas, Anil Aldrin, Gavin Ferreira, and Rajesh Chauhan, put up a brave fight but failed to score. The same was true for RCF. With the match being extended to the tie breaker, all eyes were on the two goalkeepers — Bipin and Edgar Mascarenhas but luck favoured the Kapurthala outfit as they converted four of the five strokes while Air India could convert only three to make an unceremonious exit from the tournament. The last quarter-final played between CISF and Punjab and Sind Bank produced exciting hockey. After a series of close misses by CISF, the bank men got their act together. In the seventh minute, a cross from the left saw Parminder taking a hard hit which beat the CISF custodian hands down. CISF had two good opportunities to equalise thereafter but on both the occasions GV Khakha turned out to be the culprit. First he failed to get the better of PSB’s Ranjit Singh and then failed to intercept a cross from the right which was tailor-made for him. However, the much-needed equaliser for CISF came in the 21st minute when they were awarded a penalty corner. Following the hit, the ball came to Irfan Ahmed whose hit off the rebound saw the ball landing safely in the net. A few minutes before lemon time, CISF took the lead. A cross by Pratik Kumar to Cyril Ekka saw the latter despatching a goal-bound hit. Mangra Munde standing close to the goal-line guided the ball in, giving his side the lead. In the second half, the bank men worked hard to come back into the game. After surviving a close call following CISF’s unsuccessful attempt following a penalty stroke, the bank men restored parity in he 59th minute. A free hit from outside the ‘D’ by Sandeep Ghuman was followed by Baljit Chandi’s neat deflection and the ball sailed into the goalmouth (2-2). The match winner for Punjab and Sind Bank came a minute before close. Following a penalty corner hit, the ball came to Olympian Sanjeev Kumar whose neat scoop off the rebound gave the CISF goalkeeper absolutely no chance. Monday’s fixtures (semifinals): PSB v BSF — 2 p.m.; Punjab Police v RCF — 3.45 p.m. |
|
|
Third time lucky for Randhawa NEW DELHI, Oct 1 (UNI) — It was third time lucky for Jyoti Randhawa as he played sterling golf under pressure on the final day to win the Rs 30-lakh Honda Siel-Nike PGA Championship, the biggest event on the Wills Sport Golf Tour, which concluded here at the par-72 Delhi Golf Club today. It was Randhawa’s sixth title victory in seven outings in India since September 1999. Randhawa, who had lost in the seventh playoff hole in 1996 to David Carter and on the fifth playoff hole to Uttam Singh Mundy in 1998, shot a four-under 68 on the final day to aggregate 11-under 277 for the tournament. In second place was Shiv Prakash of Kanpur who shot a two-under 70 to tally eight-under 280. Jeev Milkha Singh made an amazing charge on the final day with a six-under 66 and finished tied for the third place along with Feroz Ali of Calcutta at six-under 282. Overnight joint leader Mukesh Kumar was at five-under 283 for sole fifth place, while Daniel Chopra, in contention till a quadruple bogey on the 15th hole, finished tied for sixth place at three-under 285 along with last year’s winner Vijay Kumar. Randhawa received a cheque of Rs 4.86 lakh and a gleaming New Honda City Vtec worth Rs 8 lakh. Shiv Prakash had to be satisfied with a cheque of Rs 3.36 lakh, while Jeev and Feroz received Rs 1,71,000 each. Randhawa began the day with a superb birdie on the first when he sank a 25-footer putt. However, a bogey from the bunker on the par-4 third pushed him back to level-par for the day. A birdie on the sixth was negated by a bogey on the ninth. It was a superb approach shot on the ninth which helped him convert what definitely looked like a double bogey. That spurred on the defending Hero Honda masters and the Wills Indian Open champion on the back nine. Amit luthra shot a level-par 72 and won the amateur title by one stroke over Ashok Kumar. Luthra’s four-day tally was two-over 290. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
