 |
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Sep. - 4 Oct. 2000 Issue No. 501 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 28 Sep. - 4 Oct. 2000 Issue No. 501
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
Egypt Elections Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Platform upset
LAURA Wilkinson claimed the Olympic women's platform title for the United States for the first time since 1964 with an upset victory over the Chinese favourites. Wilkinson was in eighth place, more than 20 points behind Chinese pair Li Na and Sang Xue going into the five-dive final. But as her rivals faltered, she seized the lead from Li with her third dive and held her nerve to take the gold in an extremely close three-way contest. Wilkinson won with 543.75 points. Li took the silver with 542.01.The third third
AKAKIOS Kakiasvilis of Greece became only the third weightlifter in Olympics history to take three successive gold medals when he won a tactical battle for the men's 94-kilogramme contest. Kakiasvilis emulated the feat of his compatriot Pyrros Dimas, who won the 85kg category to add to his titles from the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games."Pocket Hercules" Naim Suleymanoglu is the only other lifter to have won three Olympic gold medals. The tiny Turk triumphed in 1988 at the Seoul Olympic Games and again at Barcelona and Atlanta, but failed in his bid to win an unprecedented fourth gold in Sydney.
Polish teenager Szymon Kolecki took silver in Sunday's battle and Russia's defending Olympic champion Alexei Petrov got the bronze.
Perfect for Athens
IF ORGANISERS of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games are seeking an athlete to pull in the crowds, they should look no further than their own weightlifter Pyrros Dimas. The showman of his sport, Dimas won a record equalling third Olympic gold medal with plenty of panache. Some 1,000 flag-waving and face-painted Greek fans raised the roof at the Sydney Convention Centre when Dimas came back from the brink of disaster to win gold. Organisers struggled to silence the fans as Dimas took the platform and by the time the hall fell quiet the clock had been ticking for some time. Dimas seemed unable to concentrate, hovered too long over the bar and failed to make his lift before the one-minute time limit expired.Born as Pirro Ohima in the Albanian capital Tirrana, he moved to Greece in 1990 after collaring the president of the Greek Weightlifting Federation and detailing his Greek ancestry.
He surprised everyone by winning the 1992 Olympic title, shouting "For Greece!" from the platform in Barcelona after his final successful lift.
Fastest man makes way
THE TITLE Fastest Man in the World has been arguably the most treasured honour in sport over the years. Yet, at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the fastest man on earth found himself answering questions about a more amazing runner, the fastest woman on earth. When Maurice Greene cut through a slight headwind to win the men's 100-metre dash by a full step in 9.87 seconds, he landed in that most coveted circle of champions with a clear sense of completion. When Marion Jones won the women's 100m by more than a body length, she seemed to be just taking off.Jones is bidding to become the first athlete in history to win five gold medals in an Olympic Games. Greene and Jones, both from the United States, led their races essentially from start to finish. It was just easier to keep the rest of the men's field in view.
Greene easily fought off running partner Ato Boldon of Trinidad, the only other runner to break 10 seconds at 9.99. The silver medal went to Boldon, bronze medallist at the 1996 Atlanta Games. A bronze for Obadele Thompson of Barbados gave Caribbean countries three of the six medallists.
Historic hat trick
JAN Zelezny defied the advancing years as he won an unprecedented third successive Olympic javelin gold to carve his name into the history books.The Czech veteran, dogged by a string of back and shoulder injuries in recent seasons, blasted out a throw of 90.17 metres with the third of his six throws to secure the title.
The 34-year-old Zelezny, world champion in 1993 and 1995 and the current world record holder, is the first competitor, either man or woman, to win three Olympic javelin golds.
Britain's Steve Backley took the silver with 89.85 and Sergey Makarov of Russia took the bronze with 88.67.
Cyclists in traffic accident
THREE members of Italy's Olympic women's road cycling team were taken to hospital for a check-up after being involved in a minor traffic accident on Saturday.A car carrying the team members rear-ended another car at an intersection in the western Sydney suburb of Bankstown, police said. The Italian Olympic Committee said no one was hurt in the crash but that the three athletes -- Alessandra Cappellotto, her sister Valeria and Roberta Bonanomi -- went to the hospital as a precaution.
Lights out
SYDNEY Olympic organisers, working with Australian scientists and wildlife officials, said on Saturday they will douse the lights in the 110,000-seat Olympic stadium to try to shoo away unwanted, ugly and unaccredited bird-sized bogong moths.So starting Saturday night, the arena's bright white-and-blue lights turned off at midnight.
Hundreds of thousands of the harmless moths were attracted to the stadium's floodlights during Friday night's track and field competition. On Saturday, competitors in the women's 100 metre semi-finals could be seen swatting some of the moths moments before the races began.
The moths are on their annual spring migration to the snowy mountains on the Victoria-New South Wales border. But they're being attracted to the stadium by the bright lights.
After consultation with the Australian Museum and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Olympic organisers have decided to keep only enough low-level lighting for cleaning and for work on the stadium surface. When that work is complete, all the lights will be turned off.
Perec TV ad dropped
REEBOK has pulled a television commercial featuring two-time defending Olympic 400 metre champion Marie-Josée Perec. The ad had been showing only in France, Reebok spokeswoman Denise Kaigler said.Reebok pulled the ad because Perec abruptly pulled out of the Olympics on Thursday and flew home to Paris. Under intense criticism from the Australian media since her arrival, Perec said she left because she had been threatened by a man who tried to force his way into her hotel room. Police said they have no report of such an incident.
"It was tied to the Olympic Games, so since she was not competing, we pulled the ad," Kaigler said.
Hammer-mobile
THE big hit on the track infield has been a little blue driverless car buzzing around.The blue hammer-mobile, licence number 6 UCS with "Sydney 2000" on its side, was a time-saving assistant in the hammer throw preliminaries. Each time the hammer was heaved, the little remote-controlled car would dutifully roll out to retrieve it. It also will be used in the men's and women's discus. "It's definitely a lot of fun," said Anatoly Angelov, the man behind the controls.
Angelov is a senior engineer for UCS Inc, the New Jersey-based company that provides track and field equipment for the Games. The battery-powered vehicle, valued at $20,000, has been used only once before, at the Barcelona Games eight years ago.
The car drew a big hand from the Olympic Stadium crowd when it was shown in a close-up on the giant video screens.
A legend for sure
GOING by history, winning the 1,500 metre swim will prove to be a windfall for Australia's Grant Hackett.The event is the longest, most difficult event on the Olympic swimming calendar. Some might also call it the most boring but in Australia, the world's biggest island, the 30-lap marathon is the single biggest event of the Games.
It has captivated the country since Andrew "Boy" Charlton won the race at the 1924 Paris Olympics as a 16-year-old and each of its winners has become a national icon. The son of a banker, Charlton had a swimming pool, a couple of parks and a few streets named after him.
When Murray Rose won the race at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Australia's cattle industry almost went broke when the skinny teenager announced he was a vegetarian.
John Konrads, whose family had fled Latvia during the World War II when he was two, did wonders for the Latvian community when he won it at Rome in 1960.
Back in business
UNTIL Friday night, he had expected to be merely a spectator at the Olympics. But the man who put Lennox Lewis on the road to becoming heavyweight world champion stepped back into the Olympic boxing ring on Saturday.Canadian coach Arnie Boehm left his cheap bed and breakfast lodgings and went to work in the corner for Canadian super-heavyweight Art Binkowski.
"I do what I have to do. I have a very Spartan budget," said Boehm after making his surprise appearance and helping his man into the quarter-finals.
Boehm left the boxing gym he runs in Kitchener, Ontario, packed his bags for Sydney and took a room near the boxing venue in Darling Harbour. "I paid my own flight and took three weeks off work," he said.
Binkowski was the fifth Olympic boxer he has trained in Kitchener, the most successful so far being 1988 super-heavyweight gold medallist Lewis.
