Tragedy and more drug scandals

Europeans dominated the cycling track, but it was French star Arnaud Tournant who stole the limelight. A day after the favourite missed out on a 1,000m time trial medal, he took the podium at the Dunc Gray Velodrome alongside teammates Laurent Gane and Florian Rousseau after outpacing Britain for gold in the Olympic sprint, a debut event. But it was the 1,000m World record holder’s reaction to the victory that served as a magnet for the cameras he broke down in tears.

Japan’s early stranglehold on the judo was snapped as Cuba’s Legna Verdecia won the women’s under-52kg title and Huseyin Ozkan of Turkey won the men’s under-66kg gold there was another Poignant scene as the triathlon completed its thrilling debut at the Olympics, when courageous Canadian Simon Whitfield bounced back from a crash in the bike leg to win a golden sprint showdown that featured none of the big-name favourites.

As Whitfield celebrated, Jamaican sprint legend Merlene Ottey appeared set to get her wish to run in the individual 100m after a leading Jamaican athletics official said the 40-year-old two-time World 200m champion would run at the expense of national champion Peta Gaye Dowdie. But the hopes of four-time Olympic sprint silver medallist Frankie Fredericks of ever winning gold emotionally collapsed when the Namibian withdrew because of an achilles tendon injury. An ankle injury also forced Morocco’s World 5,000m champion Salah Hissou out of the Olympics.

Bulgaria’s Izabela Dragneva took her place in history as the winner of the first women’s weighlifting gold at an Olympic Games when she claimed the 48kg category while No 2 US softball pitcher Lori Harrigan threw the first solo no-hitter in Olympic history.