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Journalism of Courage
SYDNEY, SEPTEMBER 15: Triathlon’s glamour girls are tipped to score an early victory for the host nation when the Olympic action gets into gear tomorrow – but the first medal of the Games will be won in the women’s Air-rifle competition, according to organisers. Officials today said the first medal of the Games would be decided in the women’s 10-metre Air rifle event by 11.30 am local time tomorrow (0600 GMT).
Whoever wins the event will garner a brief audience with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Juan Antonio Samaranch, who is expected to preside at the award ceremony.
The triathlon gets underway at 10 am with a mass dive into the waters off Sydney’s famous Opera House and is the first final of the 2000 Olympics to start. But the triathletes are expected to take about two hours to huff and puff their way around Sydney harbour, officials said.
And in the meantime another final is expected to start and end in quieter fashion at the shooting venue far west of the azure waters of Sydney harbour in the working-class suburb of Liverpool.
Don Hook, press menager at the Olympic shooting venue, said the final of the women’s 10-metre Air rifle is scheduled to begin at 11 am (0530 IST) and last about half and hour.
If all goes as planned, the first medal of the Sydney Olympics will be formally awarded in a 30-minute ceremony at 11:45 (0615 IST), in time for Samaranch to grab some lunch. “The President of the IOC is presenting the medal,” Hook said. “It’s the first medal of the Games and he’ll be presenting it.”
Who is likely to win that first medal? After the eight competitors in the final each take their 10 shots, it may just be a 29-year-old interior designer from Germany – Sonja Pfeilschifter, the reigning world champion.
But Pfeilschifter has been beaten by 18-year-old Chinese shooter Zhao Yinghui at World Cup meets in Milan and, more importantly, Sydney this year.
In their last meeting in Sydney the two finished within one point of each other ahead of Bulgaria’s Volha Pahrebniak, China’s Gao Jing, and Russia’s Lioubov Galkina.
Among the other possible contenders is Petra Horneberger, the silver medallist in Atlanta, who has struggled the last two years but grabbed third at this year’s European Championships, where Pfeilschifter managed only eighth.
