Athletics: England triumphant in final tally

9.00am

MANCHESTER - England pulled off two last-gasp victories in the men's relays on Wednesday to finish the Commonwealth Games as the leading country in track and field.

Australia's Cathy Freeman made a triumphant return to the international stage with gold in the women's 4x400 metres final on a night of high drama at the City of Manchester Stadium that brought the curtain down on six excellent days of athletics.

English athletes won six of the concluding 11 finals on Wednesday to finish the meet with 12 golds, three more than Australia, after local hero Darren Campbell stole the show when he stuck out his chest and won the men's 4x100 metres relay for the home team.

England and Jamaica crossed the line together and were so close that the timing system could not separate them, with both countries credited with identical times of 38.63 seconds.

But the judges awarded the gold to England and the silver to Jamaica after the photo-finish showed Campbell to be about a centimetre in front on his Caribbean rival Asafa Powell.

"It was a fitting way to end the championships. The whole team has put everything in," said a jubilant Campbell, who revealed this week that he was so depressed earlier in the year that he had contemplated suicide.

England's victory was astonishing in many ways, not the least because their two fastest sprinters, Mark Lewis-Francis and Dwain Chambers were missing from the race after injuring themselves in Saturday's 100 individual final.

The result also broke the curse that has plagued the British relay team in recent major championships when they dropped the baton at both the 2000 Sydney Olympics and last year's world championships in Edmonton.

But there were no mistakes this time as Jason Gardener, Marlon Devonish and Allyn Condon got it round safely to hand off to Campbell for the historic last leg.

If that were not enough, England's 4x400 relay team also took gold after the judge was needed to separate them from Wales in the final event of the night. This time, England won by 0.01 of a second.

Kelly Holmes and Mike East combined to win the 1,500 metres double on the track and javelin thrower Steve Backley and triple jumper Ashia Hansen winning field titles.

It was also an emotional night for Australia's Olympic 400 metres champion Freeman who added another gold medal to her staggering collection.

Freeman only agreed to compete in Manchester after her husband Sandy Bodecker, who was diagnosed two months ago with inoperable throat cancer, persuaded her to go.

But Freeman teamed up with Lauren Hewitt, Tamsyn Lewis and 400 hurdles champion Jana Pittman to beat England for the gold after Jamaica's world champion quartet dropped the baton.

Justin Anzelark won gold in the shot put to ensure Australia finished second on the medals table with nine golds while Bahamas, Kenya and Jamaica all collected golds on the final night.

Debbie Ferguson collected her third gold medal to confirm her position as the outstanding female of the athletics programme when she anchored the Bahamas 4x100 relay to victory ahead of Jamaica and England.

Sammy Kipketer led a predictable Kenyan clean sweep of the medals in the 5,000 despite the absence of Richard Limo, who skipped the Games to compete on the more lucrative European circuit.

The 20-year-old Kipketer took the gold in 13 minutes 13.51 seconds, just half a metre in front of Benjamin Limo, who tripped and fell on the first lap, with Willy Kirui tailing off in the sprint home to finish third.

Lacena Golding-Clark beat Vonette Dixon in the women's 100 hurdles after their Jamaican compatriot and race favourite Bridgette Foster pulled out of the final to receive treatment to a hamstring problem.

Golding-Clark took the gold in 12.77 with Dixon grabbing silver in 12.83 and Nigeria's Angela Atede third in 12.98.

MEN:

1500m Final:

1 Mike East (Eng) 3 minutes 37.35 seconds, 2 William Chirchir (Ken) 3min 37.70sec, 3 Youcef Abdi (Aus) 3min 37.77sec, 4 Anthony Whiteman (Eng) 3min 38.04sec, 5 Graham Hood (Can) 3min 38.08sec, 6 Julius Achon (Uga) 3min 38.33sec, 7 Kevin Sullivan (Can) 3min 40.95sec, 8 Tom Mayo (Eng) 3min 41.70sec, 9 David Kiplak (Ken) 3min 42.87sec, 10 Francis Munthali (Maw) 3min 43.50sec, 11 Jonathan Mccallum (Sco) 3min 48.02sec, 12 Colm Mclean (Nir) 3min 51.90sec.

4x100m Final:

1 Jason Gardener, Marlon Devonish, Allyn Condon, Darren Campbell (Eng) 38.62 seconds, 2 Michael Frater, Dwight Thomas, Chris Williams, Asafa Powell (Jam) 38.62sec, 3 Tim Williams, Paul Di Bella, David Baxter, Patrick Johnson (Aus) 38.87sec, 4 Charles Allen, Anson Henry, Jermaine Joseph, Bruny Surin (Can) 38.94sec, 5 Marvin Regis, Marc Burns, Jacey Harper, Julian Raeburn (Tri) 38.97sec, 6 Taiwo Ajibade, Chinedu Oriala, Sunday Emmanuel, Uchenna Emedolu (Ngr) 39.01sec, 7 Alfred Moussambani, Serge Mbegomo, Claude Toukene, Joseph Batangdon (Cmr) 39.52sec, 8 Kevin Williams, Doug Turner, Christian Malcolm, Steven Shalders (Wal) 39.73sec.

Javelin Throw Final:

1 Steve Backley (Eng) 86.81m, 2 Scott Russell (Can) 78.98m, 3 Nick Nieland (Eng) 78.63m, 4 Will Hamlyn-Harris (Aus) 77.31m, 5 Andrew Currey (Aus) 76.98m, 6 Mark Roberson (Eng) 74.52m, 7 Michael Allen (Nir) 67.07m, 8 James Goulding (Fij) 64.43m, 9 Elvis Smith (Tci) 42.87m, 10 Nigel Faleuka (Niu) 42.73m, 11 Mathew Faleuka (Niu) Did Not Start

Shot Put Final:

1 Justin Anlezark (Aus) 20.91m (GR), 2 Janus Robberts (Rsa) 19.97m, 3 Carl Myerscough (Eng) 19.91m, 4 Brad Snyder (Can) 19.63m, 5 Chima Ugwu (Ngr) 18.46m, 6 Clay Cross (Aus) 18.10m, 7 Mark Proctor (Eng) 18.08m, 8 Dave Stoute (Tri) 17.60m, 9 Emeka Udechuku (Eng) 17.54m, 10 Ghufran Hussain (Pak) 17.40m, 11 Lee Newman (Wal) 16.59m, 12 Enxin Dong (Sin) 15.72m



WOMEN

4x100m Final:

1 Tamica Clarke, Sevatheda Fynes, Chandra Sturrup, Debbie Ferguson (Bah) 42.44 seconds (GR), 2 Elva Goulbourne, Juliet Campbell, Astia Walker, Veronica Campbell (Jam) 42.73sec 3 Joice Maduaka, Shani Anderson, Vernicha James, Abiodun Oyepitan (Eng) 42.84sec, 4 Melanie Kleeberg, Jodi Lambert, Sharon Cripps, Lauren Hewitt (Aus) 43.72sec, 5 Patience Edem, Uduak Ekah, Pauline Ibeagha, Chinedu Odozor (Ngr) 44.10sec, 6 Shamani Pradeepa Kumari Kiwuldeniye Herath Mudiyansela, Sriyani Kulawasha, Damayanthi Darsha, Susanthika Jayansinghe (Sri) 44.25sec, 7 Mereoni Raluve, Makelesi Bulikiobo, Vaciseva Tavaga, Vasiti Vatureba (Fij) 47.02sec, 8 Fatmata Bash-Koroma, Ekundayo Williams, Tennah Kargbo, Aminata Kargbo (Sle) 47.45sec

4x400m Final:

1 Lauren Hewitt, Cathy Freeman, Tamsyn Lewis, Jana Pittman (Aus) 3 minutes 25.63 seconds (GR), 2 Helen Frost, Helen Karagounis, Melanie Purkiss, Lisa Miller (Eng) 3min 26.73sec, 3 Olabisi Afolabi, Kudirat Akhigbe, Hajarat Yusuf, Doris Jacob (Ngr) 3min 29.16sec, 4 Carey Anne Easton, Sinead Dudgeon, Susan Burnside, Lee Mcconnell (Sco) 3min 31.50sec, 5 Foy Williams, Ladonna Antoine-Watkins, Karlene Haughton, Lami Oyewumi (Can) 3min 32.24sec, 6 Clementine Bewouda, Muriel Noah Ahanda, Mireille Nguimgo, Madeleine Kaboud Me Bam (Cmr) 3min 32.74sec, 7 Adia Mckinnon, Fana Ashby, Melissa De Leon, Niekiesha Charles (Tri) 3min 39.14sec, 8 Allison Beckford, Lorraine Graham-Fenton, Debbie-Ann Parris, Sandie Richards (Jam) Did Not Finish

Triple Jump Final:

1 Ashia Hansen (Eng) (GR) 14.86m, 2 Francoise Mbango (Cmr) 14.82m, 3 Trecia Smith (Jam) 14.32m, 4 Suzette Lee (Jam) 13.54m, 5 Althea Williams (Can) 13.25m, 6 Nicky Mladenis (Aus) 13.04m, 7 Taneisha Robinson-Scanlon (Eng) 12.98m, 8 Michelle Griffith (Eng) 12.90m, 9 Salamatu Alimi (Ngr) 12.46m, 10 Grace Efago (Ngr) 12.34m, 11 Melesia Mafile'O (Ton) 11.79m, 12 Kaitinano Mwemweata (Kri) Did Not Start

- REUTERS

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