Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 21 - 27 September 2000 Issue No. 500
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

Who won what Italy's Rota celebrates his team's victory in the epee event after beating a dejected Obry of France in the finals

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Shooting

The United States won the first Sydney gold medal as Nancy Johnson edged past Korean Cho-Hyun Kang and China's Jing Gao in the women's 10-metre air rifle. Kang led for the duration of the final, with Johnson scoring two-tenths of a point more on the final shot (9.9) to win gold. Jing, who was eighth coming into the final, shot a 10.9 on her ninth shot to secure the bronze medal from Lioubov Galkinas of Russia.

Lithuania's Daina Gudzineviciute won her country's first medal by taking out the final of the women's trap. Gudzineviciute raised her arm in triumph after hitting her final target, the relief evident on her face. First after qualifying with an Olympic record score of 71.0 points, Gudzineviciute (93.0) held her nerve to shatter 22 out of 25 targets in the final to hold and win by one point over France's Delphine Racinet.

Racinet (92.0), was equal third after qualifying but scored a near perfect finals round of 24, almost claiming a superb come-from-behind victory. A cross-breeze on the course made conditions slightly difficult for competitors, but seemed not to bother the Frenchwoman. The bronze went to China's E Gao (90), who missed three targets to hit 22.

China's Cai Yalin won his country's second shooting gold medal and set an Olympic record in the process in the men's 10-metre air rifle final.

Cai (696.4 points) qualified first for the final with a strong 594.0, and then blitzed the field to win by 1.3. Russian shooters cleaned up the minor medals, with Artem Khadjibekov claiming the silver and Evgueni Aleinikov the bronze.

Cai scored a 10.0 with his first shot to be 0.6 ahead of Khadjibekov, and then a 9.8, but that was the only chance he gave. He consistently hit high 10s to easily account for the field.

Cycling

The first track cycling gold medal was won by world champion Felicia Ballanger of France, beating Australia's Michelle Ferris and China's Jiang Cuihua. Ballanger, the reigning world record holder, set a time of 34.140 to beat Ferris by 0.556 of a second. The bronze medal was won by last year's world championships silver medallist Jiang with a time of 34.768. This was the debut of the 500m time trial at the Olympics.

Weightlifting

European champion Nikolay Pechalov of Croatia upstaged Turkey's Naim Suleymanaglu in his bid to create Olympic history by taking the men's 62 kilogramme class gold medal. Leonidas Sabanis of Greece, second at last year's world championships, won the silver medal and Sevdalin Minchev the bronze.

Pechalov, 30, who started competing at the age of 12, set an Olympic Games record of 150kg in the snatch and lifted 175kg in the clean and jerk for a combined total of 325kg.

Sabanis trailed Pechalov by 2.5kg in the snatch after lifting 147.5kg and added 170kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 317.5kg. Minchev also totalled 317.5kg after lifting 140kg in the snatch and 177.5kg in the clean and jerk.

It is an Olympic breakthrough for Pechalov, who won bronze in the 59kg class at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and silver in the 60kg division at the 1992 Barcelona Games while representing Bulgaria.

Yang Xia of China set a new women's 53 kg category snatch weightlifting world record of 100.0kg. She beat the previous record of 97.5kg set by Meng Xianjuan of China in 1999. Chinese Taipei's (Taiwan's) Li Feng-Ying also broke a world record in the snatch only to see Yang eclipse it minutes later. Li took silver while Winarni Slamet of Indonesia took bronze. Li lifted a world record 98kg in the first section of the contest but Yang beat it with 100kg, becoming the first woman ever to snatch a three-figure weight. The tiny Chinese woman then lifted a world record 122.5kg in the clean and jerk before upping the record to 125kg with her second lift for a total, and new overall world record, of 225kg.

Izabela Dragneva of Bulgaria became the first woman's weightlifting champion in Olympic history on Sunday when she won the 48kg category. Dragneva, four times a European champion in higher weight classes, snatched 85kg and lifted 105kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 190kg. Her Olympic gold was the first to be awarded in women's lifting, which is making its debut at Sydney. Tara Nott took silver for a fast-improving United States team with a score of 185kg. Indonesia's Raema Lisa Rumbe also lifted 185kg but was relegated to bronze due to greater bodyweight. Dragneva cleared 80kg with her first snatch and after one failed attempt lifted 85kg with her third. She comfortably jerked 100kg with her first attempt, lifted 105kg with her second and, with the gold medal assured, declined her third.

Swimming

Pieter Van den Hoogenband spoiled Ian Thorpe's hopes for a golden trifecta, equalling the world 200m freestyle record to seize gold on Monday. Winning in a time of 1:45.35, the Dutchman edged out the Australian icon by 0.48 of a second. Italy's Massimiliano Rosolino was third in 1:46.65.

Thorpe and Michael Klim had led Australia on a fantastic night of adventure in the Olympic pool on Saturday as five world records fell and the hosts revelled in a historic victory over their American arch-rivals. Thorpe uncorked the first wild celebrations by breaking his own 400m freestyle world record to claim his first Olympic gold.

The party reached a frenzied climax when the 17-year-old local boy reeled in Gary Hall to give Australia their second title of the night in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay and third world record. The race had already produced one world record as Klim led them off in 48.18 seconds to clip 0.03 seconds from the 100m freestyle record Alexander Popov, his training partner in Canberra, set in Monaco six years ago.

Nobody had ever beaten the US in the freestyle sprint relay in seven Olympic Games dating back to Tokyo 1964 and seven world championships, though the Australians achieved the feat in last year's Pan Pacific championships in the Homebush Bay pool.

"For us to do that is just really great," Australian head coach Don Talbot said. "It's been a dream of mine for a long time to beat them in that event."

The evening had started with a world record in the women's 400m individual medley from 18-year-old European champion Yana Klochkova of the Ukraine, who clocked 4:33.59 to beat the 4:34.79 mark set in Shanghai in October 1997 by China's Chen Yan. A second Chinese world record crumbled when Amy van Dyken, Dara Torres, Courtney Shealy and Jenny Thompson won the women's 4x100m freestyle relay in 3:36.61 to beat the 3:37.91 set at the 1994 world championships in Rome.

But it was, inevitably and justifiably, the Australian victories which sent the 17,500-strong crowd into raptures. After Klochkova's world record anything less from national hero Thorpe would been a huge anti-climax. Thorpe, clad in full bodysuit, delivered in style, scattering his rivals as he added the Olympic crown to the world title he won in Perth in 1998. Thorpe took the race out with a vengeance and was inside world record schedule throughout, winning in 3:40.59 to lower the mark of 3:41.33 he set in the Australian Olympic trials in this pool on 13 May this year.

Rosolino manfully tried to keep abreast of Thorpe but the young master pulled away, powered by the enormous kick of his size 17 feet, to win by nearly three seconds. Rosolino took the silver in 3:43.40 -- more than four seconds faster than the time with which New Zealand's Danyon Loader won the Olympic gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games and an effort that only Thorpe has ever bettered. Klete Keller from the United States took the bronze in 3:47.00. The flag-waving crowd had roared their support throughout, cheering 'Thorpey, Thorpey' as he hit his turns inside world record schedule. Thorpe smiled after his triumph and acknowledged their adulation with arms flexed. "It was pretty amazing... in front of my own crowd and it was just fortunate I was able to perform well in front of them," Thorpe said. "It really was a dream come true. I'm on such a high."

In the relay, US whittled away at the lead Klim had given the hosts and the margin was a mere 0.25 seconds when Ashley Callus, the third Australian swimmer, handed over to Thorpe.

Hall burst down the first length and overtook him but Thorpe proved equal to the challenge, clawing back the deficit on the return length to surge through and give Australia victory in three minutes 13.67 seconds.

Van den Hoogenband, Inge de Bruijn and Tom Dolan from the United States all set new marks to bring the total of swimming world records at the Games to a remarkable eight in the opening two days of the competition. After five world records fell in one of the most spectacular sessions in Olympic history, Van den Hoogenband started off the second evening by shaving 0.16 seconds off Thorpe's 200 freestyle world record, clocking 1:45.35 in the semi-finals.

In the very next event compatriot De Bruijn bettered her own world record to win the women's 100 butterfly final in 56.61. De Bruijn set the previous best of 56.64 in the US city of Seattle on 22 July. Her US rival Jenny Thompson could only finish fifth behind silver medallist Martina Moravcova of Slovakia and American Dara Torres.

In the final race of Sunday evening, defending champion Dolan dominated the 400 individual medley final from start to finish to clock 4:11.76 and better his own previous best of 4:12.30, set in Rome six years ago.

In the other finals of the evening Italian Domenico Fioravanti, who looked convincing in the heats, took the men's 100 breaststroke title in 1:00.46, the first Italian gold medal in swimming. Brooke Bennett continued the US women's excellent start in the Games by winning the 400 freestyle in 4:05.80.

Tom Malchow kept up the momentum in a buoyant US swimming team when he broke the Olympic men's 200m butterfly record in heats on Monday.

Malchow, the 1996 Olympic silver medallist and 1998 world bronze medallist, clocked one minute 56.25 seconds to dip 0.01 seconds below the Olympic mark set by fellow American Melvin Stewart at Barcelona in 1992. Malchow set a world record of 1:55.18 in June.

Fencing

Pavel Kolobkov, of the Russian Federation, ended his 12-year quest for an Olympic gold medal when he won the men's individual epee -- the first fencing title to be decided at the Olympic Games. Kolobkov beat Frenchman Hugues Obry 15-12 in the final, while Lee Sang-Ki of South Korea edged Marcel Fischer of Switzerland 15-14 to win the bronze medal. Kolobkov beat Lee 13-9 in the semi-finals while Obry scored a controversial 15-13 win over Fischer after the Swiss fencer twice had penalty points awarded against him in the final minute. Kolobkov, the 1993 and 1994 world champion, finally completed his full set of Olympic medals. He had previously won two silvers and two bronzes in individual and team events dating back to Seoul in 1988 and has now won at least one medal at each of the last four Games.

In a surprise result, Timea Nagy of Hungary won the gold medal in the individual epee event. She beat Gianna Habluetzel-Buerki of Switzerland 15-11 after fighting her way back from a 3-1 deficit. Once she hit the lead, at 8-7, Nagy never lost control of the bout. Both Nagy and Habluetzel-Buerki surprised most experts by reaching the final. Nagy, in the semi-final, defeated reigning Olympic and world champion Laura Flessel-Colovic of France 15-14, while Habluetzel-Buerki knocked out Tatiana Logounova of Russia 13-12.

The semi-finals and final produced excitement and colour galore. Nagy's victory surprised her team manager, Tamas Kovacs, and a good sprinkling of Hungarian media people who earlier in the day expected world No. 1 Ildiko Mincza to challenge for the title. Nagy has won five team world titles over the years with the Hungarian team but in an individual event this has been her finest hour.

Canoe-Kayak

Stepanka Hilgertova of the Czech Republic repeated her victory in Atlanta four years ago when she won the women's canoe-kayak slalom singles gold. Hilgertova produced a flawless second run to overhaul Brigitte Guibal of France, the leader after the first run, who had to settle for the silver medal. Anne-Lise Bardet, also of France, took the bronze.

Judo

Roared on by a stadium packed with Japanese supporters, Tamura Ryoko and Nomura Tadahiro both won gold medals on the first day of the judo competition. The crowd erupted when Tamura -- winner of silver medals in the last two tournaments -- flipped Russian opponent Lioubov Brouletova onto her back for the maximum ippon score with a devastating uchi-mata (inner thigh throw) in the women's 48kg final. Tamura has long been a crowd favourite since bursting onto the international scene as a fresh-faced 16-year-old at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, where she won her first silver medal.

She dedicated her gold medal triumph to her many supporters. "When I started judo as an eight-year-old I dreamt about winning the Olympics," she said. "Now the dream has become a reality. It is like meeting your first love again after 80 years."

In the women's 48kg, Belgium's Ann Simons and Germany's Anna-Maria Gradante won bronze medals.

Nomura then retained the men's 60kg title he first won in Atlanta four years ago. The crowd didn't have to wait long to be sent into ecstasy again when Nomura needed just 10 seconds to turn Bu-Kyung Jung of South Korea onto his back for an ippon with a skilful hand wheel. Brouletova, a recent finalist at the European championships in Wroclaw, Poland, shocked the favoured Amarilis Savon of Cuba in the second round, knocking her out by a small yuko score.

Nomura survived a titanic semi-final battle against world champion Manolo Poulot of Cuba before squeezing through to the final and earning the opportunity to become only the fourth man to retain an Olympic judo title -- and the fifth to win two titles.

He was electric from the off and dominated Poulot with a series of blistering attacks, but could muster only a small yuko score. Poulot came back into the fight and pushed Nomura right to the wire, forcing a late penalty, but it was not quite enough.

Poulot bounced back to emphatically win a bronze medal and cried tears of joy at the end of his contest.

Triathlon

Tears of joy also rolled down the face of Canadian Simon Whitfield as he stood on the medal dais, singing "Oh Canada" after winning the men's triathlon. As was the case for Saturday's women's event, 300,000 spectators lined the streets basking in the warm sunshine and Olympic fever.

In a fascinating race of tactics and surges, race favourites were left with tired legs after the one kilometre swim and 40km cycle and were subsequently outclassed over the 10km run for gold by lower profile competitors.

Germany's Stephan Vuckovic (1:48.37) was overtaken by Whitfield with only 250m to go. Both athletes rejoiced in their success in front of the capacity crowd. Jan Rehula of the Czech Republic, who was also overcome with emotion, was 50m further back, matching his third place at the 1999 Sydney World Cup.

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