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Greek wins 200 meters; Boldon third
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- In a shocking men's 200 final, Konstantinos Kenteris sped to victory in 20.09 seconds. The Greek sprinter was rarely mentioned among the pre-race favorites, yet he held off Darren Campbell of Britain for the gold medal. Kenteris became the first Greek man to win an Olympic medal in a running event since 1896. Last weekend, Greece's Ekaterini Thanou got silver in the women's 100. "I believed in myself from the start. People may be surprised, but I came here to win," Kenteris said. "Greece has finally arrived in athletics." Campbell won silver in 20.14 seconds and Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago, the overwhelming pre-race favorite, won bronze for the second straight Olympics. Boldon was the silver medalist in the 100 last weekend.
Americans Coby Miller and John Capel finished seventh and eighth in the final. Not counting the 1980 Moscow Games boycotted by the United States, it was the first time since 1928 that Americans have been shut out of the medals in the men's 200. American favorites Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene were injured in the 200-meter final at the U.S. trials and failed to qualify. Estonia's Erki Nool, who fouled out in the discus portion of the event earlier in the day but then had his throw reinstated after an appeal, won the decathlon with 8,641 points. Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic won silver with 8,606 and American Chris Huffins won bronze with 8,595. Huffins led throughout the two-day competition until the final event, but lagged in the 1,500 meters and dropped two places in the standings. In the men's long jump, Ivan Pedroso of Cuba won the gold medal on his last leap of 8.55 meters (28 feet, 3-4 inches), denying Jai Taurima of Australia, Roman Schurenko of Ukraine took the bronze. In the shot put, Yanina Korolchik of Belarus had a heave of 20.56 meters (67 feet, 5 1-2 inches) to beat Russia's Larisa Peleshenko. Astrid Kumbernuss of Germany, the defending champion took the bronze. Marla Runyan, the first U.S. paralympian to reach the Olympics, continued her amazing odyssey by qualifying for the final of the women's 1,500 meters. Runyan is legally blind. Earlier in the day, Jane Saville's disqualification in the
closing seconds of the 20-kilometer walk gave the gold medal to
Wang Liping of China. The hometown crowd roared as Saville
approached Olympic Stadium with a big lead and a likely gold medal
for Australia, but became silent when Saville got a red card from a
judge.
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