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In the money Ivanova sets first track world record at Goodwill Games
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- World champion Olimpiada Ivanova of Russia set the first athletics world record at the 2001 Goodwill Games when she won the 20-kilometer race walk Thursday, while the men's 5,000-meters almost set records for slowness at a major meet. Ivanova won in 1 hour, 26 minutes and 52.3 seconds, slashing the record of 1:29:36.4, set by Susanne Feltor of Portugal at Lisbon July 21, and collecting U.S. $120,000. In the figure skating, Russian Irina Slutskaya skated a near-flawless short program to take the lead over American Michelle Kwan. Slutskaya, the silver medalist behind Kwan at the world championships in March, set up a certain gold medal showdown with Kwan in Saturday's closing long program. As expected, Cuba dominated the opening night of boxing with three of the four world champions on its 11-man roster advancing to Saturday's finals. Odlaniel Solis stopped Andreas Gustafsson of Sweden in the third round of their 91-kilogram division semifinal, while Guillermo Rigondeaux (54-kilograms) and Mario Kindelan (60 kilograms) -- both Olympic and world champions -- had comfortable opening wins. Damian Austin, the remaining world champion on the Cuban squad, opens his campaign Friday, when semifinals in the remaining six weight divisions go ahead. Two Americans also had first up wins at Brisbane's Convention Center with Ronald Siler beating world No. 2 Marian Velicu of Romania 17-6 in the 48-kilogram division and Anthony Thompson beating Australia's Danny Geale 19-10. For her record-breaking 50 laps of ANZ Stadium, Ivanova earned a $100,000 bonus for the world record and $20,000 for winning the gold. Ivanova said her first name, bestowed on her by her sports-loving parents, was meant to inspire her to "something special." She planned to reward her parents for the motivation by sharing her winnings with them. "It is not easy to live in Russia," Ivanova said. "Yesterday I was poor and today I became a little richer. It's difficult to switch from little money to big money." Runner-up Yelena Nikolayeva of Russia was timed in 1:27:49.3, also under the old record. The men's 5,000 field of five Kenyans, including world champion Richard Limo, and two Ethiopians, including Olympic gold medalist Million Wolde, made a farce of the race. They plodded for the first 4,000 meters and then progressively picked up the pace until an all-out sprint in the last 400 meters, which was run in 51 seconds. Two-time Olympic silver medalist Paul Bitok of Kenya won in 15:26.10, slower than women's 5,000-meters winner Olga Yegorova of Russia (15:12.22) and nearly three minutes slower than the world record. In the men's mile, Olympic champion Noah Ngeny of Kenya burst into the lead coming off the final turn, then held off Canada's Kevin Sullivan to win in 3:56.10. "I was coming hard down the homestretch," said Sullivan, who was bleeding after being spiked by Kenya's William Chirchir. "I almost got him [Ngeny]." Romania's Violeta Szekely won the women's mile in 4:38.03, beating Russia's Tatyana Tomashova by .10 seconds. American Shawn Crawford, running in lane eight, took the 200. Crawford, the world indoor champion and world outdoor bronze medalist, was timed in a season's best 20.17. World championships silver medalist Christopher Williams of Jamaica was second in 20.38, with American Joshua Johnson third in 20.54. Ato Boldon, a former world champion at 200, and Matt Shirvington, who took bronze Wednesday in the 100, withdrew before the race. Three-time Olympic champion and world record-holder Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic won the men's javelin with a Goodwill Games record of 87.52 meters, while Cuba's Ivan Pedroso, the Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion, won the men's long jump at 8.16 meters. In other finals, world champion Hestrie Cloete of South Africa won the women's high jump at 2.00 meters; world champion Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia took the women's triple jump at 14.58 meters; and Olympic champion Ellina Zvereva of Belarus won the women's discus, throwing 66.36 meters to beat world champion Natalya Sadova of Russia, the runner-up at 64.11. The athletics competition concludes Friday with Michael Johnson anchoring the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team in his last serious competitive race. Johnson has won five Olympic gold medals and nine world championships golds. He has set world records in the 200 and 400 meters. He was the first man to win the 200 and 400 at the same Olympics and the only man to repeat as Olympic 400 champion. Figure skaters are competing for $600,000 in prizemoney at the Brisbane Entertainment Center. But Kwan, 21, was more concerned about commencing a sixth-month preparation to try to claim gold at the Salt Lake City Olympics next year than the money. "I was just a little stiff to start with," said Kwan, who took silver at the 1998 Nagano Olympics despite leading after the short program. "I'm still not used to the time change. I wasn't happy with the double axel [her first element Thursday] on take off." Fumie Suguri of Japan was third while Sasha Cohen of the United States is fourth. Maria Butyrskaya of Russia, the 1999 world champion, skated a disappointing short program and could only manage eighth place. In the ice dance competition, world bronze medalists Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh of Russia took the lead after Thursday's original dance. The diving competition starts Friday and be staged in a finals
only format with women competing in five events and men competing
in six events.
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