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Journalism of Courage
Sydney, Sept 17: Three more world records tumbled in Sydney’s Olympic pool on Sunday as both the Americans and Dutch staked their claim to what was becoming known as Australian wunderkind Ian Thorpe’s "Golden Pond". The wins shuffled the medals table and put the United States on top with a total of 11 medals, four of them gold. But even as the Olympics gathered steam in the second full day of competition there were drug scandals and tragedies underlying the triumphs.
The day opened on a sombre note with news of the death of International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch’s wife. But the IOC quickly moved on with the business of running the Olympics and by the time competition was getting under way again after lunch it was facing another drug scandal with news the entire Romanian weightlifting team was thrown out for doping offenses.
Soon enough though the attention was again on the swimming pool emerging as possibly the fastest in Olympic history. Dutch swimmers Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruijn began the assault on the record books by posting back-to-back world records, de Bruijn using hers to claim the gold medal in the 100m butterfly. Van den Hoogenband swam his record in the first semi-final of the men’s 200M Freestyle and then watched Ian Thorpe come close to breaking it in the second. Americans Tom Dolan and Brooke Bennett followed the Dutch treat by winning the men’s 400m Individual medley and the women’s 400m freestyle, Dolan breaking his own six-year-old world record in the process. Domenico Fioravanti also added Italy’s first gold medal ever in the pool by taking the men’s 100m breaststroke final.
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.
British rower Steve Redgrave’s quest for a record fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal began smoothly, as the British coxless four cruised through their heat at the head of the pack, dealing a psychological blow to Australia’s "oarsome foursome".
But Games host Australia still continued with its bid to gather more medals than any other other nation on a per capita basis. Already it has won nine, including three golds, the latest of which came on Sunday thanks to a car radio salesman wielding a shotgun. Reigning Olympic and world champion Michael Diamond staged a commanding victory in the men’s trap and then dedicated it to his father, who taught him to shoot but died before he could see his son win his second Olympic gold. (AFP)
