Sun, Mar 26, 2006 page24

• Jamaica jams at the track

  COMMONWEALTH GAMES The men and women from Jamaica were unbeatable in all sprint events this week

  • AP
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  Jamaica won the men's and women's 4x100m relays to sweep all the sprint events for the first time in Commonwealth Games history yesterday, while two men's events featured drama and tumbles.

  Powered to the line by 100m champion and world record holder Asafa Powell, Jamaica's men easily won their relay on the final night of athletics -- helped by fumbled final baton handovers by Australia, New Zealand and Ghana.

  Jamaica's women won the 4x100m for the first time in 43.10 seconds -- helped by 100 winner Sheri-Ann Brooks and 200 champion Sherone Simpson. Daniele Browning and Peta Dowdie were the other runners.

  

  Yana Tsikaridze of Canada performs during the Commonwealth Games rhythmic gymnastics all-around final in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday. Alexandra Orlando of Canada won the gold, Durratun Rosli of Malaysia took silver and Tsikaridze won the bronze.

  PHOTO: AP

  In Melbourne, Jamaicans have won the men's and women's races in the 100m, 200m, the sprint hurdle races and the 4x100m relays, becoming the first country to sweep the sprints at a Commonwealth Games.

  New Zealand captured its first gold of the athletics meet when Nicholas Willis won a 1,500m race marred by the fall of pre-race favorite Craig Mottram of Australia.

  With about 650m to go and with the pack still bunched, England's Andrew Baddeley fell and tapped Mottram's foot attempting to break his fall. A few meters after the spill, Kenya's Jonathan Komen kicked off his right shoe and completed the race with one bare foot.

  

  Jamaican runners show their gold medals during the awards ceremony for the women's 4x100m relay at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday. England took the silver and Australia won the bronze.

  PHOTO: AFP

  Willis broke clear with 400m to go and won it in three minutes, 38.49 seconds.

  Finals in women's pole vault, the men's triple jump, the men's 10,000m and both 4x400m relays were on the program.

  In the one-lap relay, Powell led the Jamaican men to a win in 38.36 seconds. South Africa was second and Canada third. Michael Frater, Ainsley Waugh and Chris Williams were the other runners.

  At the final changeover, Australia's Matt Shirvington couldn't grab the baton in time from Adam Miller, while New Zealand's James Dolphin sprawled to the ground before he could pass it to Christopher Donaldson.

  Ghana's Eric Nkansah dropped the baton before handing it to Aziz Zakarik, who was second to Powell when he set his world record of 9.77 seconds in Athens on June 14.

  BOXING

  English boxers won three gold medals -- two the old-fashioned way -- in the ring -- and the other on a walkover.

  In the 51kg flyweight class, Don Broadhurst beat South Africa's Jackson van Tonder Chauke when the referee stopped the fight in the third round.

  Stephen Smith took the 57kg featherweight class with a 20-10 points win over Mehrullah Lassi of Pakistan and James Russan won the light welterweight gold when his opponent, Moses Kopo of Lesotho, wasn't able to fight due to a perforated eardrum.

  "I was a bit disappointed," said Russan. "I really wanted to box.

  "I never imagined it [the gold medal], now I'm here. I'll shed a few tears and my mom will, definitely."

  England has a chance to add two more golds in the night session when Darren Langley takes on Jafet Uutoni of Namibia in the 48kg light flyweight final and David Price fights Kevin Evans of Wales in super heavyweight.

  Two Australians picked up golds in the other early finals. Jarrod Fletcher beat Adonis Stevenson of Canada 34-18 in the 75kg middleweight class and heavyweight Bradley Pitt outpointed Harpreet Singh of India 25-10.

  gymnastics

  Alexandra Orlando won the all-around rhythmic gymnastics title, despite a wobble in the clubs.

  The 19-year-old Canadian is aiming for five golds in Melbourne and already has two after Canada also clinched the team gold on Friday. Orlando contests the individual rope, ball, clubs and ribbon finals on Sunday.

  Orlando scored 54.625 points, with Malaysia's Durratun Rosli second with 50.825 and Canada's Yana Tsikaridze third with 49.575.

  "Rope was my best routine, but it's usually my worst apparatus, so I'm pretty happy," Orlando said. "I was disappointed with my clubs routine, because I rarely drop them. The performance was so unlike me. It fired me up for my ribbon routine, just to concentrate and just to get out there and go for it."

  Rosli, 17, was competing at her first Commonwealth Games.

  The Zambian Commonwealth Games team got more than they bargained for during a trip to the beach when two of their athletes had to be rescued by lifeguards.

  The athletes were out swimming on Thursday in the surf at a Melbourne beach when they drifted some 40m offshore before they had to be rescued.

  Lifesaving operations general manager Brett Ellis said the athletes from the landlocked central African country appeared unprepared for the tidal movements.

  "The whole Zambian games team was visiting the Anglesea beach and it was thought they had never seen the ocean before," Ellis said.

  REFLECTIONS OF A WALKER

  Steve Partington has competed in long distance walking events at six Commonwealth Games, and never won a medal. Why keeping doing it? Even he couldn't tell you.

  "It's a stupid event. We're all stupid for doing it," Partington said after spending more than 4 hours, 25 minutes and 39 seconds circling the course in Melbourne to finish sixth of seven racers who completed the 50km walk.

  Partington, 40, who took up the sport more than 20 years ago, was almost one hour behind gold medal winner Nathan Deakes of Australia, who also won the 20km event.

  "At least Nathan Deakes gets something out of it," Partington said.
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