The Hindu : Sport / Swimming : Virginie Dedieu's reign continues

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 23, 2007
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Sport - Swimming

Virginie Dedieu's reign continues

MELBOURNE: Virginie Dedieu of France won her third consecutive World synchronised swimming title in the solo free event on Thursday, spoiling Russia's bid for a golden sweep.

Dedieu received three perfect scores of 10.0 for artistic merit. Her total of 99.500 points bettered Natalia Ischenko of Russia, who had 98.500 and settled for silver for the second straight World meet.

Dedieu's victory broke Russia's hold on the gold. The Russians had won the first four events, and they are heavily favoured in the remaining two.

Gemma Civil Mengual of Spain earned the bronze, her third consecutive bronze-medal finish at the Worlds. Saho Harada of Japan was fourth and American Christina Jones finished fifth. When she realised she had won, Dedieu began weeping. She ran across the deck and climbed into the stands for a long, lingering embrace with an unidentified man.

Dedieu had four months to prepare for the Worlds after coming out of retirement. The 28-year-old swimmer had captured the World title at Montreal two years ago, then left the sport to pursue interior design.

After Melbourne, Dedieu plans to tour Japan with a music and water show before resuming her interior design career.

Jones' routine was based on the theme of a dream turning into a nightmare. She yawned and pretended to rub her eyes on the deck before diving in and portraying emotions that included fear and surprise.

In men's waterpolo, Tony Azevedo scored six goals as the United States moved to 2-0 with a 14-4 win over South Africa, while Serbia beat Italy 6-3.

The results: Men: Waterpolo: Preliminaries: Group A: Germany 17 bt Japan 7; Serbia 6 bt Italy 3. Group B: USA 14 bt South Africa 4. Group C: Spain 12 bt Russia 8; Greece 11 bt China 5. Group D: Romania 18 bt New Zealand 4.

Women: Synchronized swimming: Solo free final: 1. Virginie Dedieu (Fra) 99.500 points; 2. Natalia Ischenko (Rus) 98.500; 3. Gemma Mengual Civil (Esp) 98.000. — Agencies

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