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Valentina's Day Russian lifter sets three records, nets $84K
Updated: Saturday September 01, 2001 11:56 AM
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- Russian weightlifter Valentina Popova opened Saturday with three world records and a US$84,000 Goodwill Games paycheck. The American women's swim team concluded Day 4 by demolishing the World team to set up a gold-medal match against Australia. In between, Chinese gymnast Huang Xu led the men's all-around after five of the six apparatus until he crashed twice on his floor routine to hand the gold medal -- and a US$20,000 reward -- to Romania's Marian Dragulescu. Olympic match sprint cycling champion Marty Nothstein had a bad day at the Chandler Velodrome, losing to eventual winner Sean Eadie in his favored sprint and then missing out on a bronze. The American went marginally better in the 10-kilometer scratch race, picking up a third behind two other Aussies -- Mark Renshaw and Brett Aitken. But to top it all off, Nothstein was fined US$100 for being involved in a crash that put New Zealander Hayden Godfrey out on the last lap of the scratch race. Athletes are competing for prize money in 14 sports at the Goodwill Games, with bonuses for world records in some events. "I'm glad I came to the Goodwill Games ... partly for monetary reasons," Popova said after winning the women's 69-kilogram weightlifting division. Weightlifters get U.S. US$25,000 for each world record. Athletes in track and field will get U.S. US$100,000 for a world record, while swimmers are offered U.S. US$50,000 to break world marks. Popova's prize money also included US$2,000 for winning each of her three gold medals in the snatch, clean-and-jerk and total and US$1,000 for each personal best. Armenian-born Australian Sergo Chakhoyan set the only other world record of the games when he lifted 181.5 kilograms Friday for his snatch in the men's 85-kilogram division. In swimming, the United States, led by inspiring victories from team captain Lindsay Benko and 13-year-old Dana Vollmer, qualified for Monday's gold medal face-off against Australia after finishing 2-1 in the dual meet round-robin. Australia remained undefeated by edging Europe 76-73 to relegate the Europeans and the World, which lost 100-49 to the Americans, to the bronze medal final, also scheduled for Monday. The Americans clinched the match with four of 17 races remaining. Benko, coming back from a broken kneecap she suffered in a training accident at the world championships, then won the 200 freestyle. 'We were trying to get as many points as we could,' said Benko. Earlier, breaststroker Brooke Hanson won two races for Australia, including a meet record 31.91 seconds in the 50 breaststroke. Five meet records were set in that round-robin, including Inge de Bruijn's 25.00 seconds in the 50 freestyle. Ukraine's Yana Klochkova, a world and Olympic champion, won the 400 individual medley and the 400 freestyle to help de Bruijn spearhead Europe's campaign. The men were idle Saturday but return to the pool for their final round-robin matches Sunday. The matchups then will be the same for the medal finals Monday -- Australia vs. the World and the United States against Europe for the bronze. Rounding off the weightlifting, Iran's Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh won the men's heavyweight title with lifts of 195 kilograms in the snatch and 235 in the clean-and-jerk for a winning total of 430 kilograms. Popova's first world record was in the snatch, when she lifted 113.5 kilograms to beat the mark of 112.5 set Hungary's Erzsebet Markus set at last year's Sydney Olympics. After opening the clean-and-jerk with a successful attempt at 132.5 kilograms, she stacked 11 kilograms on the bar for her second attempt and produced the world record 143.5. "I already had won ... and I didn't want to waste my energies," said Popova. Her lift beat the clean-and-jerk mark of 143 set by China's Sun Tianni set at Athens in November, 1999, and her record for the total surpassed the 252.5 set by China's Lin Weining in March '99. In other cycling, the United States gained a gold when Erin Mirabella won the women's 15-kilometer points race. Germany's Katrin Meinke won the women's elimination race and New Zealand's Greg Henderson won the men's 20-kilometer points race. Australia excelled as surf lifesaving debuted at a major international multi-sports event, winning nine of the 12 events Saturday for 261 points. The Aussies were followed by New Zealand on 221 points, South Africa 213 and the United States 206. Competition ends Sunday, with a prize of US$6,400 for the winning team. In beach volleyball quarterfinals, American pair Kevin Wong and Stein Metzger beat Brazilians Emanuel Rego and Rogerio Ferreira 15-21, 21-11, 15-12, while Mariano Baracetti and Martin Conde of Argentina defeated Austrians Nikolas Berger and Oliver Stamm 21-17, 21-14. Olympic gold medalists Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst of Australia combined to defeat Italy's Daniela Gattelli and Lucilla Perrotta 21-15, 21-17. Brazilians Tatiana Minello and Sandra Pires beat U.S. pair Holly McPeak and Lisa Arce 23-21, 21-16.
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