Ian Thorpe pipped Michael Phelps in the only head-on-head
showdown of the world's top two swimmers as China continued to pile
up gold medals in the Athens Olympic Games on Monday.
Australian "Thorpedo" beat 2000 champ Pieter van den Hoogenband
and much-hyped Phelps in the star-studded men's 200m freestyle
final, dubbed as the "race of the century".
China geared up to sweep five more golds in shooting,
weightlifting, diving and swimming, with the most precious gold
from Luo Xuejuan, who swam on lane 1 to triumph in the women's 100m
breaststroke final.
China perches atop the medal tally with 10 golds and Australia
is second with six, followed by Japan on five and the United States
three.
The American Phelps' bid for a repeat of Mark Spitz' seven-title
record ended after just three days, as world record holder Thorpe
finished with an Olympic record of one minute and 44.71
seconds.
Van den Hoogenband, who upset Thorpe in the 2000 Games, exploded
from the pad and was more than one second under world record pace
at the halfway mark.
But Thorpe surpassed tiring leader in the homestretch, clocking
0.52 seconds ahead of the Dutchman, while Phelps never caught the
top two.
"Take that!" yelled Thorpe when he saw the scoreboard.
"It was tough and I did feel a bit tired," said Thorpe, 400m
freestyle winner at the weekend.
"But I was able to produce a pretty good performance and I'm
ecstatic about the result."
Asked what he had told Thorpe when they clapped handed and
embraced after the race, van den Hoogenband said: "I told him we
were even now."
Luo Xuejuan, only seventh in the semifinals, caught the other
finalists by surprise in the women's 100m breaststroke, beating
Australians Brooke Hanson and Leisel Jones into second and third
places.
"This is the most unforgettable moment in my life," said a
tearful Luo.
"I told her before we came here that you were the best and no
one could beat you," said Luo's coach Zhang Yadong.
In the wake of Phelps' failure, the United States fished out two
golds from the swimming pool.
Natalie Coughlin claimed the women's 100m backstroke crown in
1:00.37 and Aaron Peirsol clocked a winning time of 54.06 in the
men's 100m backstroke final.
Earlier, less known Zhu Qinan grabbed China's third shooting
gold as he scored a world record in the men's 10m air rifle.
The 19-year-old's winning total of 702.5 points beat the old
standard of 702.5 set by American Jason Parker last year. His
teammate Li Jie picked the silver on 701.3.
The other shooting title went to Australian Suzanne Baloghm, who
overcame a strong wind to win the women's trap in a mediocre score
of 88 hits, one ahead of runner-up Maria Quintanal from Spain.
Chinese women weightlifters, who made it four out of four in
last Games, opened the account through Chen Yanqing after Li Zhuo
missed the 48kg title last Saturday.
Chen came out of retirement to lift 237.5kg, a huge 5kg over the
total of DPR Korean Ri Song Hui, who took the silver and her
country's first medal.
Shi Zhiyong won China's second lifting gold in the men's 62kg,
totaling a world record weight of 325kg. Teammate Le Maosheng
grabbed the silver with the bronze going to Greece's Leonidas
Sampanis.
Chinese divers Lao Lishi and Li Ting, both 17, easily won the
women's 10m synchronized platform with 352.14 points.
Greece took its first gold of this Games thanks to men's 3m
springboard synchronized divers Tomas Bimis and Nikaolaos
Sirandis.
The Greek duo were virtually given the gold by pre-meet hopefuls
- Russia's Dmitri Sautin/Troy Dumais and China's Wang Kenan/Peng
Bo, who both flunked their last dives to finish seventh and
eighth.
The Chinese pair, who led 12.48 points after the fourth dive,
scored nothing in their last outing after Wang smashed the water on
his back following a failed twist in the air.
Japan pulled off a stunning victory in the men's gymnastics team
competition with a total of 173.821 points. United States claimed
the silver on 172.933 and Romania took the bronze on 172.384.
Defending champion China came fifth with 171.257.
"Mr. Ippon" Lee Won Hee, world judo champion, landed South
Korea's first gold in the men's 73kg final against Russian Vitaliy
Makarov.
Germany's first title also came from the judo mat, where Yvonne
Boensich triumphed over DPR Korean Kye Sun Hui in the women's 57kg
bout.
In the individual foil duel, Frenchman Brice Guyart subdued
Italian Salvatore Sanzo 15-13.
One day after Yao Ming and his Chinese teammates suffered a
83-58 defeat by their Spanish rivals in a men's basketball game,
the NBA star's girlfriend Ye Li was humiliated in China's 75-67
drubbing by the Spanish women's basketball team.
Off Olympic venues, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on
Monday upheld the expulsion of Kenyan boxer David Munyasia who had
turned in the first positive test of the Games.
Bulgaria's top Olympic official, tangled in alleged bid-city
corruption, lost his appeal too, against his exclusion from the
Athens Games.
The CAS upheld the IOC's decision to revoke Ivan Slavkov's
accreditation for alleged misconduct involving the 2012 bid city
process.
Disgraced Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou
got another delay from an IOC panel that will decide whether they
should be banned for missing a drug test.
(People's Daily? August 17, 2004)?