RUSSIAN LEAVES IT TILL THE END
Dmitry Svatkovsky produced a blistering performance in the final 3km run to snatch the men’s modern pentathlon gold medal for Russia. Svatkovsky, 28, was placed outside the medals in fourth place before the cross country race, but by the half-way stage he had overhauled all three of
the leaders and went on to comfortably secure his first Olympic title.
Hungary’s Gabor Balogh took silver and Pavel Dovgal of Belarus the bronze.
Svatkovsky managed to win despite finishing only 14th in the shooting. That
disappointing performance was offset by first place in the riding, a
fifth-placed finish in fencing and the seventh spot in the swimming.
In a major surprise, both Lithuania’s Andrejus Zadnesprovskis, the winner
of the world championships in Italy in June, and American Chad Senior, finished
outside the medals.
Senior saw his chances of a medal destroyed when he finished a disastrous
18th in the riding. "I lost everything on the horse," he said. The American finished sixth overall, one place ahead of Zadnesprovskis.
PETER WATTS
Sunday Times
