The Hindu : Sport : Great Scot! Aussies outdone in the pool

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 17, 2006

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Great Scot! Aussies outdone in the pool

Scotland takes two swimming golds to Australia's one

MELBOURNE: So much for Australia's domination of the Commonwealth Games pool.

At the end of the first night of swimming, Scotland was the unlikely leader with two gold medals, while New Zealand, South Africa and Australia had one apiece.

Australia was on top overall on Thursday, winning three of the first 11 gold medals — including a pair in cycling — to have 12 medals in total.

The Scots were 2-for-2 in the pool after Caitlin McClatchey upset Libby Lenton to win the 200m freestyle and David Carry won the 400 — exposing Australia's lack of depth in an event that the absent Ian Thorpe has dominated for eight years.

McClatchey won in 1 minute, 57.25 seconds, wiping more than two seconds of her personal best to end Lenton's bid for seven gold medals.

The pressure's off

``Obviously I can't win seven gold now, it's impossible, so it's a bit of pressure off,'' said Lenton.

Lenton said she didn't know much about McClatchey, who wiped two seconds off her personal best to get an unexpected Commonwealth title.

``I just was hoping to get a medal and try to keep up with Libby and Mel because they go out pretty fast,'' said McClatchey. ``I didn't expect to win so it was fantastic, it's a bit of a shock.''

Stephanie Rice ended Scotland's surge when she overhauled Brooke Hanson and led an Australian 1-2-3 finish in the 200m medley. But the local revival ended there. New Zealander Moss Bermester beat two Aussies in the men's 200 butterfly, prompting a celebratory Maori haka from some bare-chested Kiwi teammates in the stands.

Spectre of doping

Weightlifting started under the spectre of doping, again.

Federal Sports Minister Rod Kemp confirmed that unspecified pills were found along with syringes, vials and a suspicious substance in rooms at the Australian Institute of Sport where domestic and foreign athletes had prepared for the Melbourne Games.

Australia's anti-doping agency took control of the investigation and was hoping to release results of tests on the suspect substances and equipment on Friday. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail