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| Monday, 23 August 2004 |
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Yuliya World's fastest woman Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Greece ATHENS, Sunday - Little known Belarussian Yuliya Nesterenko was crowned the fastest woman at the XXV111th summer Olympic Games when she took the much looked forward women's 100m gold medal at the Olympic Stadium here last night. Silence prevailed as the cream of world's best woman sprinters lined up for the title race before a packed stadium and billions of worldwide television viewers glued to their TVs. True It did not have that charming Marion Jones, the triple gold medallist at the Sydney 2000 Games, bit still it had all the ingredients to be a fitting finale. Nesterenko, who celebrated her 25th birthday two months ago, clocked 10.93 seconds to end up with that dream title in women's 100m final. Running in lane six, she got off to a moderate start but her last 40m dash was classy. Coming in second place for the silver with a career best 10.96 seconds was American Lauryn Williams in lane four while the competitor on her immediate left - Jamaican Veronica Campbell settled for the bronze medal in 10.97. The difference between the gold medallist Nesterenko and silver medallist Williams was just 0.03 seconds, which would have been narrowed had the American not got the slowest reaction timing (0.212) amongst all eight finalists. But Williams recovered quickly and led for the majority of the short sprint final, but the Belarussian went pass her in the second half like a bullet. All three medallists went under 11 seconds while Bulgarian Ivet Lalova narrowly missed a medal in finishing fourth with a timing of exactly eleven seconds. Debbie Ferguson of Bahamas, who clocked a season's best 11.04 to finish fourth in first semifinal, could only return a timing of 11.16 in the final, where she was placed seventh, behind Jamaicans Aleen Bailey (11.05) and Sherone Simpsom (11.07). The two women's 100m semifinals saw the elimination of former big names - American Gail Devers (11.22 and 7th 1SF), French lass Christine Arron (11.21 and 6th in 1SF), two time World championship 100m gold medallist Zhanna Pintusevich Block (11.23 and 6th in 2SF) and veteran Jamaican sprinter Merline Ottey, now running for Slovakia (11.21 and 5th in 2SF). Nesterenko, who had not figured in an Olympic or World championship final before, made it a dream entry to the last eight. She gave an early indication of a medal when she won the first semifinal with her country's new national record of 10.92 seconds - the best among the 16 semifinalists. The second semifinal went on a slower pace with Williams winning in only 11.01 seconds. But the fastest woman at Athens Olympics said her success was no surprise to her though it was for the rest of the world. "I anticipated this success, but I did not want to think it too much because otherwise it would have put pressure on me. It came as a big surprise for the outside world, but I was well prepared. I only prepared for 100m and had consistent results all year," she broke in tears after victory. She asked all Belarussians to kiss each other and celebrate her victory. The only other athletic gold decided last night was in women's discus throw final, which was won by Russian Natalya Sadova who cleared 67.02m. She achieved this in her fifth attempt while the silver medallist Anastesia Kelesidou of Greece had her best 66.68m throw in the second attempt. Monday's men's 400m final will be dominated by American and Jamaican athletes as all three representatives from each country automatically progressed from the semifinals The event, which on one time was dubbed as the Michael Johnson event (named after the current Olympic and world record holder), will be the glamour event tomorrow at the Olympic Stadium. The fastest qualifying time was recorded by American Jeremy Wariner, the winner of the US Olympic trials. Competing in his first major championship, the 20-year-old clocked 44.88 seconds to win the first semifinal last night, ahead of Jamaican Olympic relay medallist Michael Blackwood (45.00). The second 'semi' saw Wariner's team mate Derrick Brew coming first in 45.05 seconds ahead of Jamaican Davian Clarke (45.27). |
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