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| August 7, 2002 | Wednesday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 27,1423 |
Chambers blows away Games misery
MUNICH (Germany), Aug 6: Britain’s number one sprinter Dwain Chambers blew away the misery of his Commonwealth Games failure by easily qualifying for the next round of the 100 metres at the European Championships here Tuesday.
Tipped for the title in Manchester last month, Chambers pulled up with cramp in the incident-packed 100m final and had to watch Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis take the gold medal.
The muscular athlete underwent extensive tests which revealed that he needed to consume special vitamin-packed drinks to avoid the problem and he came to Germany insisting he was ready for the challenge of winning his first major title.
He showed no signs of the cramp as he breezed through his heat in the Olympic Stadium, winning in 10.23sec to progress to the second round later in the day.
“I’m still standing man, don’t worry, I feel good,” said the 24-year-old.
Reigning champion Darren Campbell said he was mentally and physically exhausted after winning bronze in the 200m and gold in the 4x100m relay at the Commonwealth Games.
The Briton looked heavy-legged but finished second in his heat in 10.36sec. Georgios Theodoridis of Greece won in 10.24sec.
The third Briton, European indoor 60m champion Jason Gardener, also finished second in his heat, clocking 10.29sec.
Britain have won the men’s European 100m title at every championships since 1982. The one man who could spoil that record, Nigerian-born Francis Obikwelu of Portugal, eased through his race in 10.38sec.
Triple jump world and Olympic champion Jonathan Edwards bruised his heel in qualifying, limiting him to a single jump of 16.99 metres but that proved enough.
A British team spokeswoman said 36-year-old Edwards was expected to compete in Thursday’s final when he has a fight on his hands to retain his title.
The silver medallist behind him at the Commonwealth Games, fellow Briton Phillips Idowu, needed a single attempt to jump a massive 17.54m to lead all qualifiers.
Another of the young guns, Christian Olsson of Sweden, won the second pool in 17.01m.
In the 400 metres, the world championships silver medallist, the giant violin-playing Ingo Schultz of Germany, ran a rapid 45.79 to win his heat.
British hope Daniel Caines, the world indoor champion, looked easy in finishing second in his heat in 46.06sec.
But Russia’s Yuriy Borzakovskiy, one of the world’s most talented 800m runners, made his bizarre decision to run the one-lap event look even stranger by struggling to fifth in his heat.—AFP
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