ATHENS, 19 August 2004 — The United States took gold and bronze in the men’s Olympic cycling individual time trial yesterday with Tyler Hamilton topping the podium and his team Bobby Julich finishing third.
Defending champion Viatcheslav Ekimov of Russia took the silver medal but favorite Jan Ullrich of Germany could only manage seventh place on the 48-km test along the Aegean coast.
The success of the US team was all the more remarkable given the absence of the world’s leading rider Lance Armstrong.
He decided to skip the Athens Games after winning an unprecedented sixth Tour de France last month.
Earlier, defending Olympic champion Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel of the Netherlands took the women’s event with an awesome display.
Hamilton completed the 4 circuits of the 12-kilometer course in Vouliagmeni in a time of 57 minutes 31.74 seconds with Sydney gold medalist Viatcheslav Ekimov having this time to be content with silver after finishing 18 seconds adrift in 57:50.58 minutes.
Another American, Bobby Julich, took bronze in 57:58.19 minutes while race favourite Jan Ullrich of Germany finished down in fifth.
Moorsel won her fourth Olympic gold to cap a topsy-turvy career marked by victories, eating disorders and an almost insatiable desire for success.
Deirdre Demet-Barry of the United States finished 24.09 seconds behind Zijlaard-Van Moorsel to take silver while Karin Thuerig of Switzerland took bronze, 43.36 seconds behind the Dutchwoman.
The Dutchwoman, who says she will retire after the Athens Games, won the individual time trial on the Aegean coast, leaving her nearest rival in her wake by more than 20 seconds.
As she crossed the line she was greeted by a wall of Dutch supporters, clad in orange T-shirts and holding a red, white and blue Dutch flag emblazoned with the rider’s name “Leontien”.
Netherlands’ Prince William Alexander of Orange, standing in searing heat, said: “This is an amazingly emotional moment for me. If you saw her fall on Sunday and the mental pressure she was under to perform here today, you would understand that it is quite fantastic.”
Park Sung-hyun Wins
Women’s Archery Gold
• Former world champion Park Sung-hyun of South Korea maintained her country’s grip on Olympic Games women’s archery by taking gold yesterday beating compatriot Lee Sung-Jin 110-108 in the final.
Britain’s Alison Williamson beat Taiwan’s Yuan Shi Chi 105-104 to take the bronze.
Park’s win means that South Korea have won every women’s gold at the Olympics since the sport was reintroduced in 1984.
The tournament had been hit by drama and controversy in the quarterfinal with defending Olympic and world champion Yun Mi-jun of South Korea losing to Taiwan’s Yuan Shi Chi 107-105 which meant Korea were denied the clean sweep which many oberservers had been predicting.
Penalty Helps
Estanguet to Title
• Frenchman Tony Estanguet retained his Olympic canoe slalom title yesterday but only after a time penalty belatedly demoted Slovakia’s Michal Martikan.
The result was a repeat of the Sydney Games four years ago but was confirmed only 20 minutes after the end of the competition when Martikan, who had covered the course the fastest, was penalized two points for touching a gate.
Though Martikan was disappointed, having spent 20 minutes thinking he was champion, his spirits were given a subsequent lift when compatriot Elena Kaliska took the women’s Kayak slalom to give Slovakia their first gold of the Games.
Kaliska, fourth in Sydney, beat Rebecca Giddens of the United States with Briton Helen Reeves promoted to bronze after Peggy Dickens of France, the original third-place finisher, was given a two-second penalty that relegated her to fourth. Martikan had won gold at the 1996 Olympics as a 17-year-old, ahead of Estanguet’s elder brother Patrice, who took the bronze in Atlanta. He was initially celebrating another gold yesterday as his penalty was not posted on the venue scoreboard. But officials then communicated the news that he had touched gate five, to give Estanguet the gold by 0.10 points.
Germany’s Stefan Pfannmoeller took the bronze medal.
Japan’s Ueno Adds Olympic
Crown to World Title
• Masae Ueno of Japan added the Olympic crown to her world title by defeating Edith Bosch of the Netherlands in the under 70 kg category.
The two favorites negotiated their way through a minefield of falling seeds to meet in the final where Ueno gained victory with a stunning shoulder throw. China’s Qin Dongya beat the big surprise of the day, Catherine Arlove of Australia, to take bronze, scoring ippon with a hold. Annett Boehm of Germany made short work of Belgium’s Catherine Jacques in the other bronze medal bout, turning her onto her back for ippon in just 38 seconds.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s Zurab Zviadauri made up for the disappointment of successive world silver medals by finally landing gold at the Athens Olympics.
Zviadauri beat Japanese newcomer Hiroshi Izumi in the men’s under 90kg final to win his country’s first major title in judo.
Russia’s Khasanbi Taov upset world champion Hwang Hee-tae of Korea, upending him with te-guruma to win a bronze medal.
Reigning champion Mark Huizinga of the Netherlands did not go home empty-handed as he dumped Britain’s Winston Gordon with a rear sacrificial throw to win the other bronze.
Ukraine’s Bilonog Wins
Closest-Ever Shot Contest
• Ukraine’s Yuriy Bilonog pulled out a last round winner in the men’s shot put to grab the gold medal by the closest-ever margin in the history of the event at the Olympics yesterday.
The giant Ukrainian sent the shot out to 21.16 meters with the penultimate effort of the competition to equal the best of the American putter Adam Nelson.
Bilonog then took the Olympic title on the basis of having a better second effort after Nelson fouled his final effort. Nelson had produced his throw of 21.16m with his first attempt but followed it up with five no throws.
In his bid to regain the lead, Nelson sent a massive heave out toward the 22-meter line with the final throw of the competition, only for the judges to raise the red flag for a foul.
Nelson, the silver medalist at the Sydney Olympics and also second at the last two World Championships, vented his frustration and raged as he tried to persuade the officials to change their mind, without success. Denmark’s Joachim Olson took the bronze medal third with 21.07m.
European champion Irina Korzhanenko, who lost the 1999 world indoor title for doping, released a year’s best of 21.06 meters to win the women’s shot put gold medal at Olympia yesterday.
Korzhanenko, 30, took the lead in the first round with 20.41, improved to 20.70 in the second and then launched her immense winning throw in the third. Cuban Yumileidi Cumba was second and German Nadine Kleinert third in the first athletics competition staged at the site of the ancient Games since AD 393. Cumba appeared out of the reckoning with a best of only 18.74 and three fouls in her first five attempts but then leaped into second place with her final put of 19.59.
Korzhanenko was awarded the 1999 world indoor gold when Ukrainian Vita Pavlysh was disqualified but was in turn stripped of the title after a positive dope test.
Hoy Wins 3-Day
Event Individual
• Bettina Hoy of Germany won the individual three-day eventing Olympic gold medal yesterday after Germany was earlier stripped of the team gold and then had it reinstated.
Hoy burst into tears the moment she won the individual gold medal, concluding a tortuous evening in which Germany was first stripped of the team gold when Hoy got a post-race time penalty in the show jumping before then winning it back again after a successful appeal.
Britain’s Leslie Law took the individual three-day silver medal in the showcase equestrian competition - called the ‘triathlon of equestrian’- and Kimberly Severson of the United States won the individual bronze medal.
In the team competition Germany won gold, France silver and Britain silver. The top 25 scorers after the team competition square off in a single round of individual show jumping that decides the medals in that category.
