Oly: On this day at the Sydney Games - Day 3

AAP General News (Australia)
08-14-2004
Oly: On this day at the Sydney Games - Day 3

SYDNEY OLYMPICS DAY 3

On a day of shame and mourning, Michael Diamond became Australia's greatest shooter
when he defended his Atlanta gold medal with a runaway win in the trap.

Shame for the Romanian weightlifting team, which was expelled after three of its members
returned positive drug tests.

Mourning for the wife of IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, who died in Spain just
before Mr Samaranch reached her. The Olympic flag was at half-mast.

But for most Australians, it was Diamond's triumph which mattered more. He nervelessly
hit every one of 75 traps on the second day to claim gold by five shots, then dedicated
his win to his father and coach Con, who had died four months earlier.

In the pool, the Netherlands' Inge de Bruijn started her golden run with a world record
swim in the 100m butterfly.

And the first hint that Ian Thorpe was mortal came when Pieter van den Hoogenband broke
the Australian's world record in the first semi-final of the 200m freestyle.

Canadian outsider Simon Whitfield won the inaugural men's triathlon gold.

Whitfield, it turned out, has dual Canadian and Australian nationality, went to school
in Sydney for several years and has an Australian grandmother.

There was courage at the velodrome where Australia's Brad McGee took the 4000m individual
pursuit bronze, only 16 days after breaking his collarbone in a training fall.

One of the true Olympic greats bowed out when Turkish weightlifter Niam Suleymanoglu
-- who won gold at Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta -- failed to register a lift in the 62kg
class.

Sydney Olympic highlights Day three:

* Australia's Michael Diamond wins successive gold medal in men's trap shooting

* Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands sets world record 56.61s to win the women's 100m butterfly

* Izabela Dragneva of Bulgaria wins the 48kg class to become the first woman to win
weightlifting gold

* Sixteen days after breaking his collarbone, Australian cyclist Brad McGee takes bronze
in the 4000m individual pursuit

* Olympic flag at half mast to mourn the death of IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch's wife

* Romanian weightlifting team expelled after three members return positive drug tests

Quote:

"He didn't teach me for 20 years for me to fail at such a big event." - Australia's
dual trap shooting gold medallist Michael Diamond on his father and coach Con, who died
four months earlier.

AAP dw/jc/mo

KEYWORD: OLY DAY 3

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