The Athletics programme, other than the shot-put at Olympus, had begun on the previous day. The main event for us today was the Heptahlon, where Britain’s Denise Lewis was reigning Olympic Champion. Lewis had been beset by injury problems in the run-up to the Games, so we weren’t hopeful of a repeat performance.
The evening session included the last two events of the heptathlon. We arrived at the stadium, as the javelin was progressing, to discover that Denise Lewis had withdrawn from the event, but Britain's Kelly Sotherton was in second place as the javelin competition began.
In the third-round of the javelin throw, Sweden's Carolina Kluft’s sent the spear out to 48.89 metres, a season’s best. The 839pts she achieved makes a final total of 7000 a distinct possibility.
But if the outcome of the Olympic gold medal seemed certain, much still depended on the outcome of the Javelin. This is one of Britain's Kelly Sotherton’s weaker events, and a big throw from Austra Skujyte, the Lithuanian, exceeded her previous best, earning her 852pts for her 49.58m throw, Sotherton managed a meagre 37.19m. With the addition of only 613pts, the Briton has lost second place, with a total of 5492 giving her a lot to chase in the 800m.
Sheila Burrell (5408) and Margaret Simpson of Ghana (5398) thanks to good throws - 47.69; 53.32 - moved into fourth and fifth respectively.
On the other side of the stadium, the qualification competition for the Pole Vault final on Tuesday was taking place. The reigning Olympic champion Stacy Dragila crashed out of the competition. The American had adopted cautious tactics, entering at a relatively lowly 4.30. She failed once at that height before clearing and then moved up to 4.40. But she looked severely out of sorts and could manage only three bad failures.
With a top three finish required to ensure progression to tomorrow’s semi-finals, fast times were a certainty in the quarter-finals of the men’s 100 metres.
Francis Obikwelu won the first heat with a scorching personal best of 9.93. He was easing up in the final 20 meters as he looked around to see that nobody was nearby. Dwight Thomas of Jamaica was a distant second in 10.12, just ahead of Britain’s Mark Lewis-Francis, in the same time.
American World leader Shawn Crawford produced a scintillating performance to win heat 2 in 9.89. Nobody else was close. Obadale Thompson of Barbados was second in 10.12, with Vicente de Lima of Brazil, who bounced back from a false start, third in 10.26.
In race three, American Justin Gatlin’s was trailing Britain’s Jason Gardener at the midway point, but produced a mid-race surge to move ahead en route to a 9.96 win. Briton, Gardener edged Uchenna Emedolu of Nigeria for second, with both clocking 10.15.
Aziz Zakari held off World champion Kim Collins’ strong second half to win heat four, 10.02 to 10.05, a season’s best for Collins. Michael Frater of Jamaica got the third automatic spot, clocking 10.11.
Maurice Greene won the in the fifth and final heat, in 9.93, ahead of Asafa Powell’s 9.99. But the performance is deceiving. The Jamaican was well clear 60 meters into the race. Glancing at Greene to his left, the 21-year-old was content to let the U.S. champion pass, and eased considerably, but still dipping under ten seconds. The Ghanaian Leonard Myles-Mills was a distant third, in 10.18.
The second semi-final was won by Hasna Benhassi, of Morocco, in 1:58.59 with Slovenian Jolanda Ceplak second in 1:58.80.
Defending champion Maria Mutola, of Mozambique, produced a strong pace in the third semi-final, leading the field through halfway in 57.84 and coming home, her rivals strung out behind her, in 1:59.30. Romanian Maria Cioncan was second in 1:59.44.
The two fastest qualifiers for Monday’s final came from the first heat.
A throw of 64.78 from Russia’s Natalya Sadova was enough to lead the competition after a poor first round. Czech Vera Cechlova’s throw of 66.08, put her in the top spot after round two, but World champion Irina Yatchenko of Belarus edged in front with 66.17, at the start of round three.
The Greek European champion Ekaterini Voggoli fouls in the third, and the Greek crowd has gone quiet as compatriot Anastasia Kelesidou the Olympic silver medallist, is next. Kelesidou enters the ring and her throw of 66.68 takes her into gold medal position. The roars of “Hellas, “Hellas” echo around the packed 70,000 seater stadium.
In the fifth round, Sadova propels the discus out to 67.02 to take the lead. The sixth round produced no further changes to the medallists, but the Russian equalled the second-placed throw of 66.68, to confirm that she was the best on the night.
American Jeremy Wariner cruised through the first semi-final in 44.87. At the halfway stage he was challenged only by France’s Leslie Djhone. Jamaican Michael Blackwood managed to run a strong second half to pi Djhone, 45.00 to 45.01, but both made Monday’s final thanks to Wariner’s fast pace.
The second race was won by Brandon Simpson of Jamaica, in 44.97, just ahead American Otis Harris (44.99) as both swept past Alleyne Francique of Grenada, as he tired in the homestretch.
In a similar third heat the American Derrick Brew ambushed the fading Chris Brown of Bahamas with less than fifty metres remaining to win in 45.05. Jamaican Davian Clarke’s 45.27 ensured his path to the final leaving Brown in a non-qualifying 45.31. Trailing at the back of the field is Timothy Benjamin of Britain.
World and European champion Carolina Kluft, of Sweden, holds a strong lead of 492 points, so the race is really for silver. Kelly Sotherton, the Briton, set off at a great pace. Sotherton finished the final 800m heat in 2:12.27, good enough to secure bronze with 6424pts, but 11 short of the final total of Lithuanian Austra Skujte. Kluft, only 21, was third in the same heat in 2:14.15 for 905 points, a final total of 6952pts.
They played Abba’s Dancing Queen as Kluft led the multi-eventers around the Olympic stadium to take the applause of the packed, 70,000-capacity Olympic stadium.
There were no surprises and no potential medal contenders were eliminated. Three Kenyans, three Spaniards and a Kenyan-born Qatari are amongst those that qualify for Tuesday’s final. Lone Briton, Justin Chaston finished outside of the qualifying positions with fifth in the third heat.
Belarussian Yuliya Nesterenko captured the Olympic title in the 100 metres with her 10.93 win, edging American collegian Lauryn Williams by just 3/100s of a second. Williams had a clear lead on Nesterenko until seventy metres into the race, when the powerful Belarussian pulled even and eventually gained the advantage in the waning moments to capture her nation’s third athletics Olympic gold medal.
Williams strong lean in the final metres holds off Jamaican Veronica Campbell (10.97) by the narrowest of margins to claim the silver.