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Undisputed superiority Aussies claim men's and women's swimming golds
Updated: Monday September 03, 2001 1:12 PM
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- In the end, the Aussie swimmers were competing between themselves. Australia won the Goodwill Games men's and women's team swimming gold medals Monday with races and energy to spare. The men got a 104-45 win against the World All Stars, clinching the gold medal final after 12 of the 17 events on the dual meet program. The women had an 89-60 win against the U.S. team. Europe, inspired by Inge de Bruijn's meet record of 24.99 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle and two wins in relays, secured the women's bronze medal with a 92-57 win against the World. Grant Hackett got some revenge on Australian teammate and world record holder Ian Thorpe, edging the triple world champion by 0.03 seconds in the 200 freestyle to upstage the "Thorpedo" in his favorite event. Outgoing head coach Don Talbot was hurled, fully clothed, into the pool after the meet. After emerging, soaked, he said the Australians were the undisputed world No. 1. "We were No. 1 at the world championships -- regardless of what the Americans say," he said. "And we're No. 1 again here, too." The Australians won the most gold medals at the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July, but the Americans won more medals overall and claimed superiority. The Americans came back to win the men's bronze against the Pieter van den Hoogenband-led European team, while the European team spearheaded by Inge de Bruijn took the women's bronze ahead of the World team. If the Australians were dominant in the pool, the Brazilians were just as convincing in beach volleyball semifinals at the Southbank Piazza, setting up an all-Brazil women's final and a gold-medal match against South American rival Argentina. No. 4 seeds Tatiana Minello and Sandra Pires beat Olympic champions Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst 21-17, 21-18 to advance to a showdown against world champion compatriots Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede. Cook and Pottharst, the No. 1 seeds, will play for the bronze medal against Americans Barbra Fontana and Elaine Youngs, who lost the opening semi 21-18, 18-21, 15-8 to Behar and Bede. In the men's bracket, Mariano Baracetti and Martin Conde of Argentina moved into the gold medal match with a 21-19, 23-21 win against Americans Kevin Wong and Stein Metzger. Brazilian pair Ricardo Santos and Jose Loiola beat Olympic champion Eric Fonoimoana and his new American teammate Rob Heidger 17-21, 21-19, 15-13. The basketball competition should be just as one-sided. The United States, stacked with NBA regulars, thrashed Mexico 132-58 in its opener. New Zealand, which has never won a basketball medal at a major international meet, upset Canada 89-64, while Argentina defeated Cuba 105-75 and the Brazilians beat Australia 70-66. Wally Szczerbiak, who helped the Americans to a Goodwill Games gold in 1998, contributed 20 points as the tournament favorites grabbed a record 74-point point win. The previous high for a team in the games was 119 for Lithuania against Puerto Rico in 1998 and the previous biggest winning margin was 49 points when Brazil beat China 101-52 in 1994. It took an old hand like Tom Wilkens to ensure that the American swim team got a medal at all. Wilkens won the 200- and 400-meter individual medleys to propel the United States into a winning position against Europe and his triumph in the 200 breaststroke -- the penultimate race on the program -- guaranteed a successful comeback. "We knew [Europe] would pull out all the stops today and swim their fastest times," said Wilkens after the 87-62 win. In the men's third-place match, van den Hoogenband's win in the 200 freestyle combined with an upset in the medley relay and wins by Russia's Vladislav Aminov in the 100 backstroke and Joris Keizer in the 50 butterfly gave Europe an early 29-14 lead. But the Americans stormed back, with Olympic gold medalist Gary Hall Jr. and Jason Lezak pacing 1-2 in the 50 freestyle, Tom Malchow winning the 200 butterfly, Scott Tucker taking the 100 freestyle and Christian Dejong winning the 200 backstroke. The Europeans fought back before Jayme Kramer won the 50 backstroke to give the Americans a 64-60 lead with three races left. A one-two finish by Jarrod Marrs and Jeff Hackler in the 50 breaststroke put the Americans in the drivers' seat at 73-61 before Wilken's win in the 200 IM. Petria Thomas won three individual races and guided a relay to victory as Australia clinched the women's team final. "I've swum 15 races at this meet but it's all been worth it," said Thomas, a triple gold medal winner at the world championships.
The athletics program starts Tuesday, with triple Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones in action in the 100 against Ukrainian Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, who snapped the American's 42-race winning streak to win the world championship 100 last month at Edmonton.
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