Britons blown off track
Hopes of further British success on the track at Stadium Australia petered out in a women's 1500m yesterday that resembled a parks football match, and in a second relay which brings into question the judgment of the selectors.
The 1500m turned out to be a race too far for Kelly Holmes, and a race too frantic for Hayley Tullett, who fell on the second lap and trailed home in tears.
That Holmes finally ran out of legs and finished seventh behind the shock victory of Nouria Merah-Benida of Algeria is hardly surprising.
Twelve weeks ago, Holmes didn't even know if she could run in the British Olympic trials, so enduring were the injuries which have afflicted her preparation for major events since Atlanta.
She was fourth in the 800m four years ago, and her bronze medal at the same distance in Sydney was the sort of performance normally attributed to divine intervention.
She was accordingly ecstatic, and yesterday's knockabout race could not diminish her satisfaction.
"It was a battle out there, more tactical than I thought it would be," Holmes said. "I got boxed and barged, the 1500 can be a dirty race, but that's the dirtiest 1500 I've ever been in.
"I never thought I could win; some of those girls have run under four minutes, and this was only my third 1500 of the season. The worst thing about the 1500 is you get tired just trying to keep up.
"It was a shame about Hayley, but the best girl won. I don't care that I finished out of it, I've been in two finals, and come away with a bronze. I've got to be happy with that."
The battle Holmes referred to accounted for Tullett's fall just before the end of the second lap. In falling, Tullett baulked 5,000m champion, Gabriela Szabo of Romania. That looked to have spoilt Szabo's chances of any sort of medal let alone another gold.
She rallied so impressively that she snatched bronze on the line, but by that time another little known athlete had emerged from the pack to win Olympic gold, the second Algerian woman to do so in eight years, after Hassiba Boulmerka in Barcelona.
Following her world title in Tokyo in 1991, Boulmerka was condemned by the fundamentalist Imams in Algeria for racing in shorts. Hopefully, Merah-Benida has similar strength of character to withstand such archaic censure, should it come again.
The composition of the British men's sprint relay squad, with a less than fully fit Jason Gardener running on the second leg for the first time, resulted in disqualification on Friday.
And a tactical switch on the first leg of the women's 4x400m - Natasha Danvers for Helen Frost - rebounded disastrously when Danvers finished last but one, 15m back at the changeover.
Any realistic chance of the medal which had looked a strong possibility after the semi-final effectively disappeared for a team which boasted the third and fourth finisher in the individual race. Katharine Merry, who clocked 49.6sec on her anchor leg which brought the team to sixth, said: "It's too bad. We thought that we could win a medal. But personally, it's been a great year." Donna Fraser could echo those sentiments.
Marion Jones's drive for five got shunted into a couple of lay-bys, but she ended with the nevertheless impressive total of three golds and two bronzes. After her third place in the long jump on Friday, she was relegated to bronze again, along with the US sprint relay team, by an exuberant Bahamas quartet.
And she couldn't say that she hadn't been warned. At the press conference for the 200m on Thursday, silver medallist Pauline Davis-Thompson had remarked that the Bahamas were underdogs despite their excellent collective record, "and that will make it even better when we kick your butts on Saturday". And so it came to pass.
But if the British selection process was flawed for the longer relay, the American plan, putting Jones on the third leg was inspired.
She ran right away from her Jamaican and Russian opponents, and effectively won the race, running a split of 49.4sec, the same as individual champion, Cathy Freeman on the final leg, taking the Aussies to fourth.
The US men duly won both relays, but the sprinters won few friends with their clowning behaviour on the victory rostrum.
Maurice Greene is a curious contradiction. The 100m world record-holder is a quiet, courteous man in private, who seems to get drawn into his group's more abrasive behaviour in public.
Michael Johnson stays as well clear of that as he does of his opponents. But he was ably assisted in that regard by the Harrison twins, Alvin and Calvin, and Antonio Pettigrew, who sent him into a final lap of the 4x400m relay looking more relaxed than the 100,000-plus spectators who were applauding his efforts.
Trine Hattestad has illuminated women's javelin throwing since the days of Britain's Tessa Sanderson and Fatima Whitbread. She has won world titles and set world records.
She was the oldest competitor in the field last night, and all that experience paid off in her first throw, when she threw 68.91m to win gold. The Greeks are setting themselves up nicely for Athens in 2004, with several medals, gold, silver and bronze. Mirella Maniani-Tzelili added another silver behind Hattestad, throwing 67.51m twice.
After one of the most curious 5,000m races ever seen at a major championship, where a collective attack of tactical inertia led to a finishing time just 4sec faster than when Vladimir Kuts won in Melbourne 44 years ago, the question has to be asked whether this is a result of EPO testing.
Men who were running 45sec faster two months ago were reduced to fatigue by a finishing sprint from Millon Wolde, which won the Ethiopian the race in 13min 35.49sec.
It seemed as much of a surprise to Wolde as it was to the rest of us. Ali Saidi-Sief, who had emerged this year as one of the most exciting distance runners since Said Aouita looked to be in control of the dawdling race, until the final straight when Wolde eased past him.
PAT BUTCHER
Sunday Times
