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Day-1 Roundup: Nine World Records Highlight Millennium Olympics
Although South Korea's women triple archers shattered the first world record at the Sydney Olympics, the swimmers stunned the world with astonishing splashes, setting five records for a total of nine world marks to commence the first-day competitions of the Millennium Olympic Games in Sydney on Saturday.
Australian Ian Thorpe first broke his own 400m freestyle record in the evening before anchoring the hosts to crush another mark in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay to outpace chief rivals the Americans.
"They say the Americans have a great team unit, but I think we have proved we are just as tough. We bring out the best in each other," said 18-year-old Thorpe after getting two gold medals with two world records.
Swimmers from the hosts, the United States and Ukraine smashed five records along their way to the podium in the four finals of the day, as Michael Klim timed 48.18 in the first lap for Australia to beat the old mark of 48.21 set by Russian Alexander Popov, in the 4x100m relay.
"I wasn't feeling all that fresh," said Thorpe after winning the 400m freestyle, "I was trying to get further and further ahead so if anyone challenged me I still had enough to win. I wasn't going to let anyone beat me at that stage."
Thorpe clocked 3:40.59 to better his own mark of 3:41.33 in the 400m freestyle, and outpaced Gary Hall of the United States in the final lap with another world record of 3:13.67 in the 4x100m freestyle relay, which bettered the old mark of 3:15.11 set by the Americans five years ago in Atlanta.
However, the first swimming world record was broken by Yana Klochkova of Ukraine in the women's 400m individual medley as she clocked in 4:33.59 to better the timing of 4:34.79 set by China's Chen Yan in October 1997.
Klochkova, European champion and world short-course titlist, said after her victory that "I can not believe it yet. I was not expecting it to be this fast. I had a dream before, I was watching myself from the outside and I was winning."
Swimming superpowers the United States, despite its relay loss in the last seconds, also broke a world record in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay, by clocking in 3:36.61 against the old mark of 3:37.91 set by China in September 1994.
Nevertheless, South Korean women archers should receive enough salutes as they broke the first and their own world record of the combined team event in the individual ranking round as the Korean triple of Kim Nam-Soon, Kim Soon-Nyung and Yun Mi-jin scored 1994 points, beating the previous mark by 10 points set up at the Atlanta Olympics four years ago.
And it was Nancy Johnson of the United States who won the first gold medal of the Games with 497.7 points in the women's 10 air rifle final Saturday morning.
The other three world marks were broken by Turkish legendary strongman Halil Mutlu who broke his own three marks to take the first weightlifting gold medal in the men's 56kg category.
The diminutive star, who has been unbeaten since 1995, snatched 138kg and jerked 167.5kg, winning the gold medal with a total of 305kg, beating all three previous marks of 137.5, 166.5 and 302, set respectively in the Athens World Championships and the European Championships in Sofia last year.
However, the women's triathlon final eventually evolved into a disturbing ending for the hosts as Brigitte McMahon of Switzerland stole the title from the world's top three Australians who once dreamed of a clean sweep.
McMahon clocked two hours and 40 seconds, beating the pre-competition favorite Michellie Jones of Australia, currently ranked number one in the world, to a disappointing second in 2:00.42.
"It's what I have practised when out on the track," said McMahon, "I pictured myself winning against Michellie and today I found myself in that position and said 'right, I'm just going to do it.'"
The last finals of the day awarded all two judo titles to Japan as its judokas justified their world-calibre prowess in Ippon.
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