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The rest Chambers scores upset in 100; Johnson, Dragila win gold
Updated: Wednesday September 05, 2001 2:02 PM
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- With injured Maurice Greene on the sidelines doing commentary, Britain's Dwain Chambers won the 100 meters at the Goodwill Games on Wednesday. He beat his rivals out of the blocks and held off American Tim Montgomery's late kick, winning in 10.11 seconds. Montgomery, the silver medalist at the world championships, started slowly and overtook all but Chambers as he finished second in 10.27. Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago was fifth, 0.30 behind the winner. Greene, a three-time world champion, was reduced to the role of TV commentator. "I'd rather be down there," he said. In races more true to form, three-time world champion Allen Johnson edged Cuba's Anier Garcia by 0.04 in the 110-meter hurdles, and American compatriot Stacy Dragila, the world and Olympic champion, won the women's pole vault. Maria Mutola of Mozambique, the Olympic and world champion in the women's 800, won her third Goodwill Games title in 1:58.76. On the basketball court, the Americans put on a dunking exhibition led by Kenyon Martin and beat Cuba 111-70, advancing easily to the semifinals. They next meet Brazil, a 63-52 winner over Canada. Argentina also reached the final four, beating Mexico 105-77. The Argentines' only loss in three preliminary round games was 97-67 to the U.S. team. Their semifinal opponent will be Australia, an 81-62 winner over New Zealand. Australia, Brazil and New Zealand all finished at 2-1, but Australia and Brazil had better point ratios. In figure skating, world champion Evgeni Plushenko of Russia skated a technically advanced short program and took the opening night lead. American Michael Weiss stood second, ahead of Alexei Yagudin, the Russian three-time world champion, who smashed hard into the boards after he missed a combination. In the pairs competition, world silver medalists Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze finished the short program ahead of another Russian pair, Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov, and the Polish team of Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek. Chambers ran 9.99 at last month's world championships but placed fifth. Greene won in 9.82 there, 0.03 ahead of Montgomery. "I was dumbstruck that I was out of the blocks first and then put away everybody," Chambers said. "Beating Ato Boldon and Tim Montgomery is special. ... I never expected to win today." "It was very cold," said Montgomery, who has run 9.84 this year. "The times were terrible. The stronger guys were better today. It wasn't about speed, it was about strength." In the 110 hurdles, Johnson and Garcia, the 2000 Olympic champion, were even after the last hurdle. "My legs felt like spaghetti at the finish, and I almost fell," Johnson said. Dragila's winning height of 14 feet, 11 inches was the lowest of the year outdoors and well below her world record of 15-9 1/4. She didn't blame it on the cold, occasionally rainy weather. "Things just didn't go together tonight," Dragila said. "I felt good coming in. I warmed up well, then I felt flat. I just couldn't get my tires pumped up. I couldn't get off the ground. It didn't seem like my poles would bend properly. It didn't flow." Russia's Svetlana Feofanova, the world silver medalist, was second at 14-7 1/4, and Australia's Tatiana Grigorieva, the Olympic silver medalist, was third at the same height. In the absence of 200-meter world champion Marion Jones, the Bahamas' Debbie Ferguson, the world silver medalist, won in 22.80, with Kelli White of the United States, the world bronze medalist, second at 23.05. "I am proud to be the winner and my mentor, Marion Jones, is here to support me even though she did not run in this race," Ferguson said. "I wish she had run. She's the lady to beat." In other finals, Kenya's William Yiampoy, who was fourth at the worlds, won the men's 800 in 1:46.49; South Africa's Frantz Kruger, the Olympic bronze medalist, took the men's discus at 222-7, beating Lithuania's Virgilijus Alekna, the Olympic champion, who was runner-up at 216-9; and Morocco's Brahim Boulami in the men's 3,000 steeplechase in 8:17.73. Also, Ukraine's Tatyana Tereshchuk won the women's 400 hurdles in 54.47, as Morocco's Nezha Bidouane, the two-time world champion, finished fifth; Russia's Larisa Peleshenko captured the women's shot put at 61-2 1/4; and Russia's Natalya Roschchupkina took the women's heptathlon with 6,373 points. The U.S. basketball victory of 111-70 was just about average. The Americans are averaging 113 points, winning their preliminary games by an average of 65 points. "It's not a very competitive tournament and that makes it hard," said Wally Szczerbiak of the Minnesota Timberwolves. "We're just playing and having fun. We're trying to put on a show for the fans." The New Jersey Nets' Martin led the United States with 19 points, hitting 8-of-9 field goals. "They were all dunks," he said. The U.S. team made six dunks in the first quarter, racing to a 37-11 lead. The Cleveland Cavaliers' Andre Miller had eight assists, all in the first half. Led by Chicago Bulls forward Marcus Fizer with seven rounds, the Americans outrebounded the Cubans 49-26. The defense forced numerous turnovers. Juan Cantero scored 15 points for Cuba.
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