|
|
 |
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE | |
Perfect ending Johnson bows out as a winner at Goodwill Games
Updated: Friday September 07, 2001 10:33 PM
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- Michael Johnson's Golden Lap Victory Tour came to the perfect conclusion Friday when the five-time Olympic champion anchored the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team to victory at the Goodwill Games. Organizers scheduled Johnson's championship finale to mark the end of the athletics program at the Goodwill Games, which is being held outside of the United States or Russia for the first time. As he crossed the finish line, the 29,973 fans gave him a standing ovation and he was congratulated by his relay teammates, Derrick Brew, Leonard Byrd and Antonio Pettigrew. Johnson, who has five Olympic gold medals and nine world championship titles, holds the world records at the 200- and 400-meters. The 33-year-old Johnson began his international career at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle. He also competed in the 1994 Games at St. Petersburg, Russia, and the 1998 Games at Uniondale, New York. "It's only natural that I would run here again [at the Goodwill Games]," he said. "Everything worked out." He has run only relays on his farewell tour to track. He retired from individual events after winning the 400 at the Sydney Olympics last year. The U.S. finished the relay in 3 minutes, 00.52 seconds Friday. Johnson, after being pressed by Jamaica's Michael Blackwood for the first 300 meters, turned on the power down the stretch and won by about eight meters. He then walked a victory lap around the track with his teammates, as the crowd saluted him. In other athletics results, Assefa Mezgebu of Ethiopia, took the lead on the final bend and covered the last 200 in 25.8 to win the 10,000 in 28:06.48 and hold off two fast-finishing Kenyans Ben Maiyo took silver in 28:06.80 and Albert Chepkurui was third 28:06.88. Japan's Koji Murofushi won the hammer with a best heave of 82.94 meters, 2.23 meters clear of Poland's Szymon Ziolkowski in second. Adam Nelson, the World Championships silver medalist and Olympic bronze medalist, won his first major title, leading a 1-2 U.S. finish in the men's shot put at 20.91, beating world champion and fellow American John Godina by 15 centimeters. "Hopefully, this is the first of many golds to come," Nelson said. "I've had lots of second-place finishes over the last year." The Americans also won the women's 1,600 relay, but lost both 400 relays. Suziann Reid staved off Jamaica's Lorraine Fenton, giving the Americans the victory in 3:24.63. Dwain Chambers, the Goodwill Games 100-meter champion, anchored Britain to a 1.5-meter victory over the United States in the men's 400 relay in 38.71. However, the Americans were disqualified for a handoff out of the passing zone from Terrence Trammell to Dennis Mitchell on the second exchange. "We've been struggling in the last few years to get a championship win," Chambers said. "For once, we beat the U.S." Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, the Ukrainian who upset Marion Jones to win the world 100-meter title, held off a hard-charging Chryste Gaines, giving the World All-Stars a one-meter victory over the United States in the women's 400 relay. The World team was timed in 42.95, the Americans in 42.98. American Tim Mack won the pole vault at 5.80 meters, beating Aleksandr Averbukh of Israel, the world silver medalist, on a countback, while Sweden's Stefan Holm won the high jump at 2.33 meters. The Czech Republic's Tomas Dvorak, the three-time world champion, won four of the 10 decathlon events to take the overall gold with 8,514 points. Brazilian Maurren Maggi took the women's long jump with her last jump, a 6.94 meter effort that overhauled Australia's Bronwyn Taylor at 6.88 and Russian Tatyana Kotovo at 6.84. "I never expected to win, this is the best result I've ever had," said Maggie, who won at the world University Games in Beijing last week. Figure skating world champion Evgeni Plushenko blew kisses to the crowd after his winning free skate routine which included a quadruple-triple-double combination in the first 30 seconds. Michael Weiss of the United States, the bronze medalist at the 2000 world championships, held on to the second place he had after the short program and took the silver medal. Triple world champion Alexei Yagudin of Russia, who crashed in his short program and was third going into the final, won the bronze. Russian Irina Slutskaya takes her short program lead into the women's free skate final on Saturday with world champion Michelle Kwan of the United States in second place. The ice dance will also conclude on Saturday. Boxing was hit with another biting scandal when American Juan McPherson accused Cuba's Estonio Gutierrez of biting him on the shoulder during their 63.5-kilogram (139 pounds) division semifinal. Gutierrez won the four-round contest 21-14, but McPherson said a bite in the second round had thrown his concentration and he planned to lodge a protest. McPherson, who was disqualified from the world championships after reaching the quarterfinals in June because he was too young by two weeks to qualify, said he complained to the referee but the official hadn't seen the incident. "He's just a kid. He wasn't expecting those rough-house tactics," said Al Jones, McPherson's trainer. "Biting - that threw the kid's game off. I think that's disgraceful. The referee should have come and had a look, there was a clear, red bight mark on the shoulder." Damian Austin advanced as expected with a 12-6 win over Ukrainian Viktor Polyakov in the 71-kilogram (156 pound) division, giving the Cubans four world champions into finals. Diving competition opened Friday with world 3-meter springboard titlist Guo Jingjing leading a Chinese 1-2 in the women's 1-meter springboard. Guo got 301.86 points, Wu Minxia took silver with 287.58 points and Russia's Vera Ilyina was third in 283.56.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
