ATHENS, 26 Augsust 2004 — Kate Allen produced a stunning run to overhaul long-time leader Loretta Harrop in the last 150 meters of the women’s Olympic triathlon on Wednesday and win Austria’s first gold medal at Athens. The Australian-born 34-year-old, who became an Austrian citizen only two years ago, was one of the last out of the 1,500 meters swim and completed the grueling 40km bike leg in 28th place, 2:48 minutes behind Harrop, who had led from the start.
Australian Harrop, the 1999 world champion and runner up this year, appeared a certain winner as she pulled clear of a trio of Americans on the baking three-lap 10 km run.
But while others wilted Allen, ranked 41st in the world, found extra reserves of strength and speed. She gradually carved her way through the field and when she got in sight of Harrop, poured on the pace, finally sweeping past the leader 150 meters from the finish to win gold for her adopted country in two hours, 4.43 minutes.
Allen’s 34.13-minute run was more than a minute faster than anyone else in the 50-woman field and crucially almost three minutes quicker than Harrop.
The heartbroken Australian, who has returned to the peak of competition after the tragic hit-and-run death of her younger brother two years ago, took silver 6.72 seconds down.
Susan Williams outran her world ranked one and two American teammates Barbara Lindquist and Sheila Taormina to take bronze a further 19 seconds back.
The 700 meters hill, an incline of 20 percent, had been billed as the defining aspect of the course and it immediately did some damage as Lindquist dropped off the pace leaving Taormina and Harrop to escape and open a 42-second lead at the end of the first of five laps.
The American-Australian combination - who finished 1-2 in this year’s world championship - ignored their nationalities to work as a team. After three laps they had stretched the lead over Lindquist and Williams to 48 seconds with the main chase pack of around 20 two and a half minutes down.
The technical nature of the course, including a lot of gear changing and cornering skills, made it difficult for the main pack to get organized. It all changed on the last lap as Taormina dropped back to create a three-bike American train, leaving Harrop to plough on alone, eventually finishing 18 seconds ahead of the Americans. The chase pack looked to have given themselves too much to do as they swept into the transition area 2.43 minutes off the pace. But Allen, with the endurance that has brought her an ironman title, worked her way through the field before her finishing burst took her to a wonderfully unexpected gold.
Van Grunsven Claims Second
Straight Olympic Dressage Gold
Anky van Grunsven of the Netherlands, riding Salinero, yesterday won the Olympic individual dressage gold medal ahead of German Ulla Salzgeber and Spain’s Beatriz Ferrer-Salat.
Thanks to a remarkable artistic performance in the concluding freestyle to music, van Grunsven moved past Salzgeber and her mount, Rusty, who had led after the Grand Prix special. Van Grunsven, 36, won the same title in Sydney aboard the now-retired Bonfire.
She was lying third after the opening Grand Prix, significantly adrift of Salzgeber. But the Dutch rider moved up with a strong performance in the Grand Prix special on Monday.
Salzgeber, 46, added the silver to the individual bronze she won in Sydney, as well as team dressage gold in Sydney and here in Athens.
Herculean Effort Wins Rezazadeh
Second Olympic Gold
Iran’s Hossein Rezazadeh proved himself a modern-day Hercules by lifting a new world record of 263.5kg, roughly equivalent to two fridge freezers, on his way to winning his second straight Olympic weightlifting gold yesterday.
The ‘World’s Strongest Man’ flattened the opposition underfoot with an incredible display of power-lifting in the super-heavyweight showdown.
Iranian icon Rezazadeh, a colossus who stands over six-foot tall and weighs just under 163kg, won with a total of 472.5kg which equaled his own world record.
Viktors Scerbatihs of Latvia took the silver with 455kg, a stunning 17.5kg behind, with Velichko Cholakov of Bulgaria in third with 447.5kg. It was Latvia’s first-ever Olympic weightlifting medal. Two-time world champion Rezazadeh, who has ruled over his fellow super-heavies since winning gold in Sydney four years ago, sealed his fame with the clean and jerk world record lift of 263.5kg.
Rezazadeh, 26, bent down and kissed the wooden lifting platform to signal the arrival of a new Hercules in Greece.
There was a shock before the start with the non-appearance of ‘soldier of fortune’ Jaber Saeed Salem representing Qatar.
The highly-rated Jaber, who as Yani Marchokov moved to Qatar with seven Bulgarian teammates for a reported fee of $1 million, was world champion in 2001 and won the snatch competition in last year’s event.
Brazil Play With
Heart to Win Gold
•Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos responded to heavy pressure from home to win Brazil’s first men’s Olympic beach volleyball gold medal yesterday. Emanuel and Ricardo, who dominated the final to beat Spain’s Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera 21-16, 21-15, said they had finally learned to play with their hearts and use the pressure to their advantage to satisfy gold-hungry Brazilians.
“By now I can use this pressure in my favor,” said Emanuel, who has played in the Olympics twice but never managed to medal. “I put pressure on the other teams — they need to beat me.”
