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Day-2 Roundup: Netherlands Break Three World Records, Romanian Lifters Expelled
As Romania's weightlifting team was expelled from the Sydney Olympics, four more world records were shattered in the second-day competitions with three by the Dutch stars, raising the new world records to 13 after two-day competitions on Sunday.
IOC director general Francois Carrard explained that Romania's whole weightlifting team was ordered off the Games under the rule of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) as it produced three lifters who failed drug tests this year.
"The federation has a rule that if three test positive, the entire team is suspended," Carrard said.
Traian Ciharean and Andrei Mateias were expelled on Friday after failing pre-Games dope tests, and Razvan Ilie was withdrawn from the Romanian team for doping earlier this year, as weightlifting is the only Olympic sport in which all athletes were tested for drugs before the Sydney Games, according to IWF.
Sunday's swimming pool produced three more world records, bulging the new world records to eight through Dutch stars Inge de Bruijn, Pieter den Hoogenband and American Tom Dolan as the United States walked away with two golds and Italy and the Netherlands split the other two.
Inge de Bruijn won the 100m butterfly in 56.61 seconds, beating her own world mark of 56.64 set in July. And it was the third time for the Dutchwoman to break the world mark this year.
Guo Qinglong, a FINA official from China, tipped De Bruijn to bring down more world records later in the Games, commenting "Look at her shape. She is perfect for swimming. She doesn't have an unnecessary ounce of fat."
"I was flying through the water. It felt like a trance," said De Bruijn. "This is what I've been working for years and now I'm standing at the top."
Van den Hoogenband clocked 1:45.35 in the 200m freestyle semifinals, bettering Ian Thorpe's world record of 1:45.51. "I was so surprised. Then again, I was so relaxed in the water," the Dutch wonder boy said. "It felt amazing. Now it promises to be a great final."
American Tom Dolan retained his Olympic 400m individual medley crown in a world record time by pulling away from the second leg to win in four minutes 11.76 seconds, beating his 4:12.30 world mark set at the 1994 world championships in Rome.
Domenico Fioravanti won Italy's first-ever Olympic gold in the men's 100m breaststroke, setting an Olympic record of 1:00.46.
The other world record was also beaten by a Dutch athlete through Leontien van Moorsel in the women's 3,000m individual pursuit with a clocking of three minutes 30.816 seconds in a semi-final.
However, Sunday will be remembered as a sorrow day when the Olympic flag was at half-mast in Sydney as the IOC and the whole sports world expressed their sincere condolences to IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch on the death of his wife.
When the IOC announced on Sunday another nine Olympic athletes recorded suspected positive tests, including two in the athletes' village, Iranian boxer Anosherawan Nourian could be the latest athlete expelled from the Sydney Olympic Games for failing a doping test, the International Amateur Boxing Association said.
And the Americans finally walked away from the deadlock on gold medal tally from Australia, Japan and France with four as both the hosts and France tied anew on three and Japan and Turkey leveled on two each after Sunday's competitions.
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