Freeman
returns but it's
South Africa’s
night
– Commonwealth Games Day 5
Matthew
Brown for the IAAF
30 July 2002 -
Manchester, England -
Manchester’s
rain returned after four days of sunshine, but it couldn’t dampen
South Africa’s
athletes as they took three golds, including an unexpected one in men’s 110m
hurdles.
It was meant to be Colin Jackson’s swansong performance in front of his adoring British fans. It was meant to be his 13th senior international title in his final year of world class sprinting. It was meant to be a stroll for the Welsh world record holder.
But as these Games have shown already, what’s “meant to be” in athletics is not always what happens. South Africa’s Shaun Bownes upset the odds in the men’s 110m hurdles final, stealing Jackson’s title and sending the enthusiastic, if damp, crowd into temporary silence.
Bownes, the African record holder, who won the bronze medal four years ago, picked the right moment to produce his best run of the year. It was hardly a startling time – he clocked 13.35 – but somehow it was still good enough to beat Jackson, who took silver in a disappointing 13.39, with Jamaica’s Maurice Wignall a surprise third in 13.67.
Jackson has the world’s fifth best time this year, 13.15, but admitted before his semi-final that he was nervous about competing in front of the large home crowd.
“I haven’t felt that nervous for a long time,” he had said. “You can never be too confident about a final. There are ten hurdles out there and anyone can make one or two mistakes.”
Despite such prophetic words, it’s difficult to believe he would have expected to run so poorly here. Jackson was out of the blocks quickest in lane three but Bownes also got out well in five. Jackson then hit the first hurdle hard and never recovered the advantage he lost at that point. Immediately to Jackson’s left, England’s Damien Greaves also crashed into the first barrier, hitting it so hard he went tumbling at the Welshman’s feet.
That didn’t impede him, though. And an angry Jackson was left to rue his own mistake. “I absolutely slammed the first hurdle. I was so close to it. it cost me the whole thing,” he said. “From then on I was just chasing. I was thinking ‘keep your form and just run through the field’. It has really annoyed me. I am in total shock.”
The silver medal is Jackson’s 24th at a major championships, not that he’ll care about that.
World champion Hestrie Cloete won South Africa’s second gold of the night in the women’s high jump. She won the competition with ease, clearing every height from 1.79m upto and including 1.96m on her first attempt. She retained her title by clearing 1.93m, then sailed over the Games record before taking three attempts at a season’s best of 2.00m, none of them close.
“I would have liked two metres, and if I’d got that I would have tried for a new personal best at 2.05m,” she said. “But when I got up this morning and looked at the weather, I thought maybe not.”
England’s Susan Jones was second, having cleared 1.90m on her final attempt, with Canada’s Nicole Forrester third.
The start of the men’s pole vault had been delayed for 75 minutes at the beginning of the programme by a torrential downpour which flooded three lanes of the warm up track, and made conditions tough for the vaulters in the stadium. But for the winner it may have been a fortuitous change in the weather, for it meant he had time to be inspired from his gold-winning compatriots before making his decisive attempts.
Indeed, just as Cloete jogged around the far bend of the stadium on her lap of honour, Okkert Brits lined up for his second effort at 5.70m. Australia’s Paul Burgess had already made it and the pressure was on. But this was South Africa’s night, and Brits made sure he went clear. He then vaulted a new Games record height, 5.75m, on his first attempt. It was enough to give his country its third gold of the day.
Burgess failed once at 5.75m, then tried twice to clear 5.80m. He failed, as did Brits, but the victory was secure. Dominic Johnson gave St Lucia its first ever Commonwealth Games medal by clearing 5.60m, good enough for the bronze.
Another Games record went in the women’s 10,000m, which was won by Kenya’s Salina Kosgei in 31:27.83, more than 13 seconds faster than Scotland’s Liz McColgan ran in 1986, and the sixth fastest time in the world this year. Susan Chepkemei ran a personal best, 31:32.04, for silver and Australia’s Susie Power took bronze, just 0.16 seconds behind.
These three dominated the race from the start, with Power and Chepkemei doing most of the work at the front, setting a pace too punishing for any of the five other competitors. They passed half way in 15:44.12, with Chepkemei leading, and it remained that way until the bell, when Power made a move. It wasn’t decisive though, and Kosgei burst to the front in the back straight. She opened a huge gap and crossed the line with some 20 metres to spare.
England’s Chris Tomlinson was the furthest man in qualifying for the final of the men’s long jump, producing 7.97m this morning. But it was his teammate Nathan Morgan who came good in the final. The 1996 world junior bronze medallist was the only jumper to exceed eight metres, leaping 8.02m in the second round.
That jump took the lead from Gable Garenamotse, whose 7.91m in the first nevertheless remained secure for silver, giving Botswana its first Commonwealth athletics medal. Kareem Streete-Thompson, the Cayman Island’s world indoor silver medallist, snatched the bronze from Scotland’s Darren Ritchie by a centimetre, jumping 7.89m in the fifth. Tomlinson, who has jumped 8.27m this year, had a bad night, his best being 7.79m in the final round.
New Zealand’s Beatrice Faumina retained her Commonwealth Games discus title without much trouble, despite the competition being delayed due to the weather. Her best effort, of 60.83m, came in the second round, while no one else exceeded 60 metres. She had another throw of 60.50m in the fifth, and it was in that round that Neelam Jaswant Singh threw 58.49m, good enough for the silver and India’s second track and field medal in as many days.
Australian’s Nathan Deakes took his second gold of the Games when he added the 50km walk to the 20km title he won on Sunday. Deakes dominated a race involving only nine walkers, and claimed a Commonwealth Games record of 3:52.40 for his efforts.
Deakes, and the Commonwealth’s fastest walker this year Craig Barrett of New Zealand, took an early lead. Yet, despite their healthy advantage, neither would have been confident of a medal, given the unpredictable nature of the event. Indeed, Barrett had collapsed with heat exhaustion only 1km from winning the gold medal in Kuala Lumpur four years ago. And even when Deakes made a decisive move just after the half way point the gold medal was far from secure, for shortly afterwards he began to have problems with cramp, slowing considerably to stretch his calves.
By the 30km, however, the 25 year-old appeared to have shaken off his injury and had built up a healthy lead of 15 seconds. He eventually won his second gold of these Games, and his career, by more than four minutes. Barrett claimed the silver and Canada’s Tim Berrett took bronze.
This day also saw Cathy Freeman’s first return to action at a major championships since her memorable performance at the Sydney Olympic Games. Freeman ran the second leg for Australia in the women’s 4x400m relay semis, helping them to qualify comfortably for the final. She made up a good 20 metres to bring them into contention with a Jamaican quartet that included the woman who finished second to her in the Sydney final, Lorraine Fenton.
Freeman had intended to compete in the individual 400m in Manchester before her husband fell ill with cancer. He later persuaded to make the trip to Manchester for the relay, and, all things considered she was pleased with her run – unoffically timed at 53.5.
“I am really happy to be back,” she said. “I was nervous, but I love the crowd, the championships, the nerves, the fear – it’s all part of me. It makes me feel happy because there is so much more to achieve. I’m feeling really good just running.
“I hope it’s the same Cathy Freeman who returns to the track properly. If she’s not the same, she’ll be better. It all sounds a bit clichéd but I’m an older, more mature and more experienced athlete.”
Another experienced athlete, the women’s 800m champion Maria Mutola, decided against doubling up and did not show for the women’s 1500m semi-finals. The Mozambiquan’s absence eases the task for England’s Olympic bronze medallist Kelly Holmes – the 1994 champion – who won her semi by some 15 metres in 4:11.27. Reigning champion Jackline Maranga of Kenya remains a threat after strolling through her heat in a leisurely 4:17.23.
Kenyan champion William Chirchir cruised through the men’s semi-finals, in 3:46.75, and looks a good bet for the gold.
African record holder Janus Robberts of South Africa topped the list of qualifiers from the men’s shot put, with 19.47m.
Nigeria was the fastest qualifier from the men’s 4x100m relay semi-finals, in 38.95, while England – without their top two sprinters Dwain Chambers and Mark Lewis-Francis – got the baton round safely, much to the relief of the crowd.
Finally, the fifth day of the Games saw the first world record of the athletics programme when Adekunle Adesoji took 0.17 seconds from Alexander Mokhhir’s 16 year-old blind athletes’ 100m mark. The 20 year-old Nigerian stormed home in 10.83 in his heat, and then ran fractionally slower, at 10.84, in his semi-final.
