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A place in history
Latest: Sunday October 01, 2000 07:28 AM
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By Albert Lin, CNNSI.com
SYDNEY, Australia -- The smile was back on her face. In a great irony, Marion Jones won her third gold of these Games in the event in which she was thought to have the smallest chance, the 4x400-meter relay.
Australia, anchored by 400 individual champion Cathy Freeman, had the strongest 4x400 team on paper, but American Jearl Miles-Clark gave the U.S. a lead on the opening leg that it never relinquished.
With bronzes in the long jump and 4x100 relay, on the heels of all the controversy surrounding her husband, C.J. Hunter, Jones has not had much reason to celebrate this week. Now she has become the first woman to win five track medals at a single Olympics, and her three golds are the most since Florence Griffith Joyner in 1988.
The 4x100 relay -- which was more of a sure thing than the 4x400, despite the absences of injured Gail Devers and Inger Miler -- was lost when Nanceen Perry, running the third leg, took off too soon and had to slow down and look back for the baton from Torri Edwards. Jones was in sixth when she took the handoff and quickly made up a couple places, but she simply ran out of room.
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The U.S.'s last two medal hopes in boxing -- featherweight Ricardo Juarez and light-welterweight Ricardo Williams Jr. -- step into the ring Sunday, hoping to help this team avoid the dubious distinction of becoming the first since 1948 to bring home no golds.
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Weather conditions are expected to be perfect for the final event of the Games, the men's marathon, which concludes in Stadium Australia just after 6 p.m. local time. A close race would suit just about everyone, with Japan hoping for a men's title to go with women's marathon winner Naoko Takahashi's gold and a trio of Kenyans looking to further prove their distance dominance.
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The Closing Ceremonies will feature an ambitious two fly-bys by an F111 fighter. The first will extinguish the Olympic flame atop Stadium Australia; the second will dump fuel and then ignite a fireworks display that will head down the Parramatta River, culminating in a display in Sydney Harbour bigger than last New Year's Eve. Let's hope it all goes off without a hitch to bring these spectacular Games to a spectacular close.
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The Cuba women's volleyball team dropped the first two games -- including 34-32 in the second -- before storming back to win three straight and the gold from Russia.
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Cuban heavyweight Félix Savón became the third boxer -- joining countryman Téofilo Stevenson and Hungary's Laszlo Papp -- to win three golds with a convincing 21-13 victory over Russia's Sultanahmed Ibzagimov. A cut under Savón's eye reopened with 14 seconds left, but the referee let the fight continue.
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U.S. track sweetheart/glamour girl Suzy Favor Hamilton, ranked No. 1 in the world in the 1,500 meters, went out too fast and tired down the stretch. Then, after falling to sixth place, she literally fell, taking a spill on the track with about 60 meters to go and finishing last.
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How 'bout that Henry Kissinger? The good doctor, an honorary member of the IOC, presented the medals to the men's 4x100-meter relay teams. How long until his 15 minutes are up?
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Lance Armstrong came to Sydney as the most celebrated cyclist in the world and left with chump change. Following a 13th in the road race earlier this week, Armstrong finished third in Saturday's individual time trial, behind Russia's Viacheslav Ekimov and road-race gold-medalist (and Tour de France rival) Jan Ullrich of Germany.
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American Mark Reynolds matched his 1992 gold in sailing's Star class despite starting early and having to circle back around to the starting line.
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Talk about starting with a bang. Norway's Trine Hattestad launched her first javelin attempt of the final 68.91 meters, nearly matching her world record of 69.48 and putting a huge carrot out for the field to chase. No one caught her.
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For 99.9 percent of the world, a silver medal in the Olympics would be considered a career; for Sammie Henson, it was a nightmare. When Sammie was eight he told his father he would one day become an Olympic champion and he worked steadily toward that goal. Now, at age 29, it may not happen, says Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum.
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Led by heavyweight Félix Savón and Ariel Hernández, Cuba
Cuba>
struck for two boxing golds after dropping its first two finals. --
Sports Illustrated's Johnette Howard
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| Today's Finals | SI's Brian
Cazeneuve: Daily Medal Picks |
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| Basketball |
Men's |
| Boxing |
51 kg | 57 kg | 63.5 kg | 71 kg
| 81 | 90-plus kg |
| Canoe/Kayak |
Men's K1 500 Meters | C1 500
Meters | K2 500 Meters | C2 500 Meters |
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Women's K1 500 Meters | K2 500
Meters |
| Equestrian |
Individual
Jumping |
| Handball |
Women's |
| Modern
Pentathlon |
Women's |
| Rhythmic
Gymnastics |
Women's Individual
All-Around |
| Track and
Field |
Men's
Marathon |
| Volleyball |
Men's |
| Water Polo |
Men's |
| Wrestling
(Freestyle) |
58 kg | 69 kg | 85 kg | 130
kg |
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The Stadium Australia video-screen director apparently has enjoyed Maurice Greene's pre-race tongue-wagging, electing to show Greene up close and personal before both the 4x100 relay semis and final as he extended that muscle and strutted back into starting position. A female Aussie fan was disgusted by the display Saturday night: "What's with that man's tongue? Just put it away!" she told a friend. Take heart: Greene was the only member of the team who didn't remove his top for the victory lap.
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Both the Netherlands men's field hockey team and the Cameron men's soccer team won gold medals on penalty shots, but the nod here goes to those wild and crazy Dutch, who went to a shootout in the semis and the final.
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With a paucity of events Sunday, all eyes will be on the Dream Team as it locks up another basketball gold over France. Unless you think infamous New York Knicks No. 1 draft pick Frédéric Weis (he of the celebrated Vince Carter dunkover) can actually play in the NBA. The Dreamers need a resounding victory to silence critics.
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