Scott hurls hammer for gold

ATHENS: TRINIDAD and Tobago’s Candace Scott will aim to create Olympic history today in the hammer throw final at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The first woman from the English speaking Caribbean to qualify for the final at Olympic level, Scott placed seventh in her group on Monday with a throw of 68.27 metres. The two-time NCAA champion and current record-holder remains realistic of her chances in today’s medal round in Athens despite the top class field she is up against.

Among those in strong contention to mount the winners’ rostrum are Olga Kuzenkova of Russia, Yunaika Crawford of Cuba and Gu Yuan of China. Also in action today for TT will be Sheridan Kirk, the national 800 metres champion. And tomorrow the men’s 4X100 metres relay team will attempt to qualify for the final of the event in which they have a chance of medalling. Yesterday Bahamian Tonique Williams-Darling produced a courageous run to capture the women’s 400-metre gold medal, the English-speaking Caribbean’s first triumph at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Accelerating well down the backstretch, the 28-year-old Williams-Darling sped to the front approaching the midway point in the race and repelled a determined challenge from the Mexican world champion Ana Guevara to land a famous gold medal for her country in a time of 49.41 seconds.

Guevara ran a season’s best 49.56 for second spot, and the Russian Natalya Antyukh ran on well to get third in 49.89. The other Caribbean runner in the field, Christine Amertil, of the Bahamas, was seventh in 50.37. The win was the first ever individual gold for the Bahamas in Olympic history and third gold overall, adding to women’s sprint relay gold in Sydney fours years ago, and sailing gold at the 1964 Games in Tokyo for Durward Knowles and Cecil Cooke. In another bright Caribbean story, Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell reaffirmed her status as gold medal favourite in the half-lap sprint with a world-leading and personal best time in the 200-metre semi-final. Running in the second semi-final of the women’s 200, Campbell exploded from the blocks and the result was a foregone conclusion before they entered the straight.

She clocked a personal best 22.13 to better her own previous best time by 0.05 seconds, chased by her teammate Aleen Bailey, who also registered a personal record 22.33 in an event in which three of the four Caribbean semi-finalists booked spots into tonight’s final. Belgium’s Kim Gevaert was third in a national record 22.48, and Bahamian Debbie Ferguson logged a season’s best 22.49 for fourth. The lone casualty for the region in the event was Cydonie Mothersill, of the Cayman Islands, who got a bad start and placed fifth in 22.76. In the first semi-final, the 18-year-old American Allyson Felix posted a solid and comfortable win in 22.36 seconds. Jamaican Bev McDonald missed a final spot when she placed fifth in 23.02, and Slovenia’s Jamaica-born 44-year-old veteran Merlene Ottey pulled up injured on the turn and failed to finish.

In other events yesterday, Lacena Golding-Clarke, Jamaica’s Commonwealth Games champion, was fifth in the women’s 100-metre hurdles final in 12.73. American Joanna Hayes won in a very fast 12.37, an Olympic record, after world champion Perdita Felicien fell at the first hurdle. In the men’s 400 hurdles, Danny McFarlane of Jamaica ran a career best 48.00 to win his semi-final and enters the final as the second quickest. Only world champion Felix Sanchez (47.93) went faster. Jamaicans Kemel Thompson (48.25) and Dean Griffiths (49.51) were eliminated. Advancing from the second round of the men’s 200 metres were Jamaicans Asafa Powell (20.23) and Chris Williams, in a season’s best 20.34. “All I’m trying to do is to advance to the next round each time. I exceuted all my phases right today,” Williams stated.

Bahamian Dominic Demeritte (20.61) and Antiguan Brendan Christian (20.63) were ousted. In the morning session, Jamaica’s young sprint sensation Usain Bolt, who has been competitively inactive for four months because of injury, looked far below top form and exited the men’s 200 metres with a fifth place finish in his heat. The decathlon ended with a gold medal triumph for the Czech Republic’s Roman Sebrle, with an Olympic record 8,893 points. Jamaicans Claston Bernard and Maurice Smith placed ninth and 14th respectively. Commonwealth Games champion Bernard registered a national record 8,225 points while placing ninth, and Smith tallied 8,023 for 14th. In long jump qualifying, Jamaican James Beckford qualified as the fourth best at 8.20 metres but his Caribbean colleagues Kareem Streete-Thompson (7.85 metres) of the Cayman Islands, and Bahamian Osbourne Moxey (7.81metres), were ousted.

In cycling, Barbadian Barry Forde placed sixth in the men’s sprint at the Olympic Veldodrome during the ride-off for minor placings in the event. Beaten in his quarter-final match sprint on Monday, Forde was up against Britain’s Ross Edgar in the ride-off for positions fifth and sixth position and lost. Edgar won in 11.214 seconds. Australian Ryan Bayley, who won his quarter-final clash with Forde, went on to capture the gold medal, defeating the Netherlands Theo Bos in 10.661 seconds. German Rene Wolff got bronze.