Smooth as Sautin win for Russian

Russia added another four gold medals to bring its tally to five so far after Sautin took the 10-metre platform, Alexei Akatiev the 25-kilometre open water final, and the team of Olga Brusnikina and Maria Kisseleva the duet synchronised swimming final.

It was Brusnikina’s second win so far, coming just one day after she dominated the solo event.

Germany followed with one gold it won in Friday’s women’s 5-kilometre open water event.

Sautin, 25, the reigning world 3-metre and platform champion and the 1996 Olympic platform gold medalist, easily took the divingevent, beating Germany’s Heiko Meyer and Ukrainian Roman Volodkov.

Sautin, who underwent a surgical procedure to lance an infection on his back last November, scored 435.87 points, compared to Meyer’s 426.18 and Volodkov’s 416.52.

Both Meyer, who led in preliminaries and Volodkov complained about weather conditions, but the German admitted Sautin “was the one to beat today regardless. For me, it was a new feeling to be leading going into the final.”

In open water swimming, Alexei Akatiev won with a time of five hours, 11 minutes and 06.6 seconds, followed by Russian Anton Sanachev with 5:11:59.7 and Germany’s Andre Wilde with 5:12:40.8.

Brusnikina and Kisseleva got a near perfect 99.160 for their routine, receiving three tens and three 9.9’s on the artistic side of their performance. They were followed by France’s Virginie Dedieu and Myriam Lignot with 97.240, and Maurizia Cecconi and Giovanna Burlando with an even 96. Dedieu and Burlando were placed second and third in the solo event.

Butswimming events were overshadowed by the controversy between Turkish Swimming Federation and Speedo.

Speedo said yesterday that two of its employees chose not to travel to Turkey because of security fears, but that the company fully supported the championships.

Turkish Swimming Federation president Haluk Toygarli responded by announcing the Federation would boycott Speedo equipment.

Security has been tight since the championship began here on Thursday, with more than 20,000 police reportedly providing security following a recent spate of violence in this city. In the bloodiest incident, 13 people died in march when a department store was set ablaze.

Concerns increased following Wednesday’s arrest of Cevat Soysal, said to be a leading member of rebel Kurdistan workers party, or PKK. The PKK had already threatened terrorist action following the death sentence imposed on the organization’s leader Abdullah Ocalan last month.