Athens defined by skill and spirit

By DAVID LEGGAT

Two images from the athletics programme summed up what the Olympic Games are all about - triumphs of skill and spirit.

In the final session of the track and field programme yesterday, Hicham el Guerrouj made sure his name would be enshrined among the all-time Olympic greats.

Five days earlier the Moroccan maestro had won the 1500m title to compensate for the last two Olympics when he missed out on golds that should have been his.

Yesterday, he eased clear of his toughest rival at the distance, world recordholder Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, in the run home to claim the 5000m title as well.

The crowd in the Olympic Stadium rose to salute a wonderful, humble athletic talent.

Cut to the women's marathon, run on a hot, sticky night a week ago.

Almost 90 minutes after diminutive Japanese runner Mizuki Noguchi had crossed the line at the historic Panathinaiko Stadium, home of the 1896 Games, a Mongolian athlete, Luvsanlkhundeg Otgonbayar, finished the race.

She was half-an-hour behind the second-last runner. But she made it. And there you have the twin triumphs on which the Olympic tradition has been built.


History has been all around us in Athens, from the use of the original Olympia venue for the women's shot put, to the archery at horseshoe-shaped Panathinaiko Stadium.

Competition-wise, the Games have stacked up well, with the proviso that the drug-testing programme seemed to make its mark.

The sadness about modern sport is that any notable achievement brings the mental corollary: is this legitimate?

The depressing thought occurs that perhaps many medals are won by those with the better-organised drug programmes.

There are telltale signs to look for. An example? An athlete's sudden, substantial jump in performance in the last few months before an Olympics is bound to raise eyebrows.

You happily live with fewer world records if that means dirty athletes are being tossed out.

Going into yesterday's penultimate day, the International Olympic Committee had nailed 22 competitors for doping offences - primarily the usual suspects, weightlifting and track and field - and five medals had been withdrawn.

The previous biggest haul of cheats was 12 at Los Angeles 20 years ago. The IOC has performed more than 2600 tests since July 30.

As always, these Games had some firsts. They included:

* Tonique Williams-Darling winning the Bahamas' first individual gold, in the 400m.

* Israel's first gold in 52 years of Olympics from boardsailor Gal Fridman.

* Swimmer Kirsty Coventry producing Zimbabwe's first gold.

* Felix Sanchez, who had them dancing in the streets of the Dominican Republic with his 400m hurdles triumph.

* A triple jump gold by Francoise Mbango-Etone, Cameroon's only medal and the first by a woman.

And what of New Zealand's performance in Athens?

Does three gold and two silver medals represent a successful fortnight?

Yes, on a population-per-medal basis, these were successful Games.

New Zealand punched above their weight. As a comparison, Argentina - population 39 million - won their first Olympic gold medal for 52 years, in the men's soccer competition.

After New Zealand's performance in 17 disciplines, some athletes will arrive home with heads high; others might seek the side exit at Auckland Airport on Wednesday morning.

Top of the pops were rowing and triathlon.

In rowing's case, five crews, five A finals, plus the opening gold medal from the double scull world champions, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, equates to an immensely successful regatta.

Until Athens, New Zealand athletes had shared the same podium only twice: Peter Snell and John Davies at Tokyo 40 years ago and Blyth Tait and Sally Clark in Atlanta in 1996.

Two became three with the magnificent performances of Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty in finishing 1-2 in the triathlon.


It was a perfect example of New Zealand sportsmen taking an event by the scruff of the neck and not letting go.

Too often our athletes have been in dominant positions, only to let them slip away.

Cycling came away with Sarah Ulmer's gold, fourth for Greg Henderson in the points race, and sixth and seventh placings elsewhere on the track. Julian Dean and Joanne Kiesanowski were far from outclassed on the road races.

Hockey's two teams finished a satisfying sixth. They accomplished part of their Games ambition of spots in the top six Champions Trophy tournaments in Argentina in November for the women, and Lahore soon after for the men.

In swimming, five of the 13 swimmers had personal bests, Dean Kent broke two national records in the 200m and 400m individual medleys and Helen Norfolk missed the 400m individual medley final by 0.05s. But some performances were ordinary.

Ben Fouhy's silver medal was a fine result in a slick K1 1000m race and double-trap shooter Nadine Stanton reached the top-six shootoff.

By winning two of their five games to make the quarter-finals, the Tall Ferns can thumb their nose at those who doubted their worth as Olympic representatives.

Sailing and equestrian disappointed.

It was the first Olympics since 1976 that the sailors have come away empty-handed.

Equestrian (10 competitors and 24 support staff) had also been on the dais every year since 1984. Until now.

The Tall Blacks were a disappointing 10th out of 12, most of the one-competitor sports were ordinary, and athletics was spotty. But it did at least throw up three to watch in the lead-up to Beijing in 2008 - 800m runner Jason Stewart, shot-putter Valerie Adams and 1500m man Nick Willis.

The greatest single boo-boo of the Games? It has to be smallbore marksman Matthew Emmons.

With one shot left in the 50m three-position smallbore final, the American had the gold in his back pocket. A shot well off centre would still have meant victory.

What did he do? Shot at the wrong target. Zero out of 10 and from first to last in one easy step.

"Stuff happens," the 23-year-old said. "Roll on Beijing."

Beijing? Going into today's final day of competition, China had amassed 31 gold medals, beating their 28 at Sydney four years ago and second only to the United States' 34.

What price them eclipsing the Americans on home soil in four years' time?