II - A Legacy of the 1984 Olympic Games

4
5
VOLUME TWO THE GAMES
4. Much attention was
paid to the record-breaking
Dutch swimmers, while their
baseball team's victory
over giant Cuba went
almost unnoticed
5. Bondi's Beach Volleyball
Centre was the stage
for all things outrageous.
Exuberant fans celebrated
the Olympic competition
6. With Australia's hopes on
his shoulders, Russell Mark
won the silver medal in the
men's double trap event.
His daughter Holly is the
first one to enjoy the medal
78 3. The Games Unfold
NEWSPIX
6
Small Nations Shine
Other smaller nations also shone on Day 5. The Netherlands's
Pieter van den Hoogenband had already proved himself
a giant-killer in the pool when he upset Australian hero
Ian Thorpe in the 200 m freestyle on Day 3. On Day 5,
he dethroned two-time Russian Federation gold medallist
Alexander Popov in the 100 m freestyle, after setting a new
world record in the semifinals. Not to be outdone, compatriot
Inge de Bruijn established a new world record in the semifinals
of the women's 100 m freestyle. She would go on to win
three golds and one silver medal during the course of the
competition. In judo, Mark Huizinga of the Netherlands took
the 90 kg gold medal in a convincing ippon victory over
Brazil's Carlos Honorato. In perhaps the most remarkable
accomplishment of the day, the Dutch baseball team upset
mighty Cuba in the preliminaries, winning 4–2. In 21 matches
at three previous Olympic Games, Cuba had not lost once.
JED JACOBSOHN/ALLSPORT
ANTHONY JOHNSON/FAIRFAX
Olympic Firsts
Double Swimming Gold
Day 5 was indeed a day for the emergence of new champions.
In swimming, Domenico Fioravanti of Italy won the 200 m
breaststroke, becoming the first male in Olympic history to
win both the 100 m and 200 m events in that stroke at a
single Games. South African champion Terence Parkin took
the silver with a new national record.
Gold for Colombia
In weightlifting, Maria Isabel Urrutia of Colombia gave her
country its first ever gold medal by winning the women's title
in the 75 kg division. Here the crowd learnt of an interesting
technicality. According to Olympic rules, when competitors lift
the same weight, the lightest one wins. Urrutia, Nigerian
Ruth Ogbeifo and Kuo Yi-Hang of Chinese Taipei all raised the
same total weight, but Urrutia, the lightest of the three, won
on body-weight.
New Champion at the Velodrome
In cycling, Marty Nothstein of the USA upset two-time Olympic
champion Jens Fiedler of Germany and three-time world
champion Florian Rousseau of France in successive races to
take the men's track sprint. Rousseau took the silver and
Fielder the bronze.
Fencing Thriller
In a battle of left-handers, Kim Young-Ho became the first ever
Korean gold medallist in fencing in the men's individual foil,
beating two champions in the process. European champion
Ralf Bissdorf from Germany was awarded the silver, while
former world champion Dmitri Chevtchenko of the Russian
Federation won bronze. It was the second fencing medal of the
week for Korea. Police had to keep eager fans from rushing the
fencers as the audience gasped through every call. The final
ended with scores a single point apart.
Third Time in Cycling
But not all defending Olympic champions were vanquished
on this day. As with all other Olympic Games, the sheer
unpredictability of the results delighted spectators at the
Sydney 2000 Games. France's Felicia Ballanger, victor of the
cycling sprint in Atlanta, in Sydney overcame a stiff challenge
by the Russian Federation's Oxana Grichina to retain her title,
and the gold medal.
Seven Golds for a Swimmer
At the Aquatic Centre, Jenny Thompson anchored the USA to
victory in the women's 4 x 200 m freestyle relay. This gave
her the seventh gold medal of her career, the highest total for
any female swimmer at the Olympic Games.
From Bronze to Gold
Renata Mauer-Rozanska of Poland shot from bronze at Atlanta
to gold at Sydney in the women's three-position 50 m rifle event.
Triumph Over Injury
In artistic gymnastics, Alexei Nemov of the Russian Federation
fought off the pain from a chronic shoulder injury to win the
men's all-around competition, in a thrilling event-by-event duel
with China's Yang Wei.