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| August 30, 2003 | Saturday | Rajab 1, 1424 |
White completes fine sprint double
PARIS, Aug 29: Jana Pittman and Kelli White made light of the absence of women’s athletics icons Cathy Freeman and Marion Jones here on Thursday as they landed the 400 metres hurdles and 200m respectively at the world championships.
Pittman - the anointed successor to Freeman in Aussie eyes - admitted to watching a Rocky movie where the Sylvester Stallone character humbled his Russian opponent in the ring.
Out on the track on Thursday, her main rival was Russia’s world record holder Yuliya Pechonkina.
White succeeded where Jones failed in achieving the sprint world championship double and emulated East Germany’s Katrin Krabbe’s feat back in 1991.
However, the hosts’ hopes of two of their fairest and hottest medal fancies stepping up to the plate were dashed as Muriel Hurtis finished fourth behind White while Manuela Montebrun took bronze in the women’s hammer behind Cuba’s Yipsi Moreno.
France still has hope with heptathlon silver medallist Eunice Barber easily qualifying for the long jump final.
While America’s male 200m sprinters carried on their work to repair the damage caused by the antics of Jon Drummond, who was disqualified from the 100m, the news hardly got better for 400m winner Jerome Young.
While the 27-year-old shrugged off the revelations that he had tested positive for steroids, and then competed in the Sydney Olympics after being cleared by an internal inquiry, the IOC entered the fray.
In a statement released on Thursday, they seemed to sweep aside the line taken by the USATF and the IAAF that they were both bound by the ruling at the Court of Sports Arbitration (CAS) last November that all cases between 1996-2000 were closed and the athletes’ identity would not be revealed.
“The IOC has written to the IAAF and the USOC, strongly urging them to pursue the matter. It has also written to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) calling on it to assist in finding the truth by using all means and powers at its disposal,” said an IOC statement.
After the disgraceful behaviour of Drummond and the cloud over Young, the organisers will have been delighted that the mouthwatering 5,000m clash between Ethiopia’s 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele and Morocco’s 1,500m master Hicham El Guerrouj is on for Sunday.
Both came through their semi-finals but while Bekele will have his other two team-mates with him, the 29-year-old El Guerrouj will just have one and by all accounts Abderrahim Goumri is no friend of his.
However, it nearly didn’t happen at all as the indefatigable Moroccan revealed that after just over three hours of sleep following his wonderful success in the 1,500m on Wednesday he had his doubts about competing.
“When I woke up my first thought was whether I really wanted to do the 5,000 but here I am and I feel really good now and I feel really motivated.”
Pittman was as expected in ecstasy after her victory. She showed no signs of nerves as she chased down Pechonkina.
That revelation would warm the heart of her fellow Australian, tennis ace Lleyton Hewitt who has admitted in the past that he too uses the Stallone character to fire him up before he goes on court.
No shrinking violet the 20-year-old Pittman said there was no problem with taking on Freeman’s mantle.
White wasn’t feeling at her best. She was sick in the changing area but perhaps she was also mindful that Marion Jones, unlike Freeman, will be returning to the track after taking a year out to have a baby.
Medals table after the 6th day of the World Athletics Championships on Thursday:
G S B T
United States 4 4 2 10
Russia 4 3 4 11
Belarus 3 1 3 7
Ethiopia 2 2 1 5
Sweden 2 1 1 4
Cuba 1 1 0 2
South Africa 1 1 0 2
Canada 1 0 1 2
Italy 1 0 1 2
Australia 1 0 0 1
Ecuador 1 0 0 1
Lithuania 1 0 0 1
Mexico 1 0 0 1
Morocco 1 0 0 1
Mozambique 1 0 0 1
Poland 1 0 0 1
Qatar 1 0 0 1
St Kitts and Nevis 1 0 0 1
France 0 2 2 4
Hungary 0 2 0 2
Jamaica 0 2 0 2
Germany 0 1 1 2
Great Britain 0 1 1 2
Greece 0 1 1 2
Spain 0 1 1 2
Cameroon 0 1 0 1
Czech Republic 0 1 0 1
Ireland 0 1 0 1
Kenya 0 1 0 1
Trinidad and Tobago 0 1 0 1
Ukraine 0 0 4 4
Bahamas 0 0 1 1
China 0 0 1 1
Japan 0 0 1 1
Kazakhstan 0 0 1 1
Senegal 0 0 1 1—AFP
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