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ATHENS, Aug 23: American Justin Gatlin shot to victory in the Olympic 100 metres final on Sunday in an atmosphere of fevered excitement.
Gatlin flew across the line in 9.85 seconds, one-hundredth of a second ahead of Portuguese Francis Obikwelu with defending champion Maurice Greene a further hundredth of a second back in third place after the closest ever Olympic 100 metres finish.
"I've been dreaming about this since I started racing," said an elated Gatlin after completing a victory lap of the Olympic stadium with a laurel wreath on his head. "I've lived for this moment. It was a very great race, the competition was stellar."
The pre-race atmosphere resembled the build-up to a classic heavyweight title fight with the eight finalists waving and gesturing to the capacity crowd who had been clapping rhythmically to the theme tune from "Zorba the Greek".
Gatlin, 22, was slowest out of the blocks but powered back into contention, lunging over the line just ahead of Nigerian-born Obikwelu. Greene, seeking to become only the second man to retain the Olympic title after Carl Lewis, was gracious in defeat. "I hope they (the fans) enjoyed the show we put on today. it was a great race."
It was another good day for the Swedes, following Caroline Kluft's win in the heptathlon earlier on Sunday. Christian Olsson added the Olympic triple jump gold medal to the world title he won in Paris last year and Stefan Holm took the high jump title when he was the only competitor to clear 2.36 metres.
Holm faced elimination after he failed twice at 2.34 but soared over the bar with his final attempt and cleared the winning height with his next jump. Adrian Annus won Hungary's fifth men's hammer title in the other gold medal decided on Sunday.
RESULTS OF SUNDAY'S FINALS:
MEN'S 100 METRES: 1. Justin Gatlin (US) 9.85 seconds; 2. Francis Obikwelu (Portugal) 9.86; 3. Maurice Greene (US) 9.87; 4. Shawn Crawford (US) 9.89; 5. Asafa Powell (Jamaica) 9.94; 6. Kim Collins (St Kitts-Nevis) 10.00; 7. Obadele Thompson (Barbados) 10.10. Aziz Zakari (Ghana) Did not finish.
MEN'S TRIPLE JUMP: 1. Christian Olsson (Sweden) 17.79 metres; 2. Marian Oprea (Romania) 17.55 3. Danila Burkenya (Russia) 17.48; 4. Yoandri Betanzos (Cuba) 17.47; 5. Jadel Gregorio (Brazil); 17.31 6. Hristos Meletoglou (Greece) 17.13; 7. Viktor Gushchinskiy (Russia) 17.11; 8. Yoelbi Quesada (Cuba) 16.96; 9. Kenta Bell (US)16.90; 10. Julien Kapek (France) 16.81; 11. Walter Davis (US) 16.78.
MEN'S HAMMER: 1. Adrian Annus (Hungary) 83.19 metres; 2. Koji Murofushi (Japan) 82.91; 3. Ivan Tikhon (Belarus) 79.81; 4. Esref Apak (Turkey) 79.51; 5. Vadim Devyatovskiy (Belarus) 78.82; 6. Krisztian Pars (Hungary) 78.73; 7. Primoz Kozmus (Slovenia) 78.56; 8. Libor Charfreitag (Slovakia) 77.54; 9. Karsten Kobs (Germany) 76.30; 10. Igor Astapkovich (Belarus) 76.22; 11. Nicola Vizzoni (Italy) 74.27; 12. Markus Esser (Germany) 72.51.
MEN'S HIGH JUMP: 1. Stefan Holm (Sweden) 2.36; 2. Matt Hemingway (US) 2.34; 3. Jaroslav Baba (Czech Republic) 2.34; 4. Jamie Nieto (US) 2.34; 5. Andriy Sokolovskyy (Ukraine) 2.32 ; 6. Yaroslav Rybakov (Russia) 2.32; 7. Mark Boswell (Canada) 2.29; 8. Svatoslav Ton (Czech Republic) 2.29; 9. Vyacheslav Voronin (Russia) 2.29; 10. Dragutin Topic (Serbia & Montenegro) 2.29; 11. Lisvany Perez (Cuba) 2.25; 12. Alessandro Talotti (Italy) 2.25. -Reuters
MEDALS TABLE
ATHENS, Aug 23: Medals table at 1815 GMT on the 10th day of competition at the Olympics on Monday:
G S B T
China 23 15 11 49
US 22 23 16 61
Japan 15 7 8 30
Australia 13 9 13 35
France 9 7 9 25
Germany 8 10 11 29
Britain 7 8 7 22
Italy 7 6 7 20
Ukraine 7 2 5 14
Russia 6 15 18 39
SouthKorea 6 10 5 21
Romania 6 3 3 12
Greece 5 2 2 9
Netherlands 3 6 8 17
Hungary 3 4 1 8
Sweden 3 0 1 4
Turkey 3 0 1 4
Belarus 2 3 6 11
Poland 2 2 3 7
Slovakia 2 2 1 5
Georgia 2 1 0 3
Thailand 2 0 2 4
Chile 2 0 1 3
Norway 2 0 0 2
NewZealand 2 0 0 2
Spain 1 6 2 9
Canada 1 3 1 5
Cuba 1 1 6 8
Bulgaria 1 1 5 7
Indonesia 1 1 2 4
SouthAfrica 1 1 2 4
Zimbabwe 1 1 1 3
Ethiopia 1 1 0 2
Denmark 1 0 5 6
Belgium 1 0 2 3
Brazil 1 0 2 3
Switzerland 1 0 1 2
Cameroon 1 0 0 1
UAE 1 0 0 1
Austria 0 4 1 5
CzechRepublic 0 3 3 6
NorthKorea 0 3 1 4
Croatia 0 2 2 4
Portugal 0 2 0 2
Slovenia 0 1 3 4
Estonia 0 1 1 2
Taiwan 0 1 1 2
Finland 0 1 0 1
HongKong 0 1 0 1
India 0 1 0 1
Kazakhstan 0 1 0 1
Kenya 0 1 0 1
Latvia 0 1 0 1
Lithuania 0 1 0 1
Morocco 0 1 0 1
Serbia & Montenegro 0 1 0 1
Argentina 0 0 2 2
Azerbaijan 0 0 2 2
Colombia 0 0 1 1
Eritrea 0 0 1 1
Israel 0 0 1 1
Jamaica 0 0 1 1
Mongolia 0 0 1 1
Trinidad&Tobago 0 0 1 1
Venezuela 0 0 1 1 -Reuters
