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Round-Up: Edmonton Athletics Worlds Ends without World Record
The eighth IAAF World Athletics Championships concluded here in Sunday' sweating heat without any world mark except nine championships records and 16 year's bests, with the United States remaining atop the medal tally from nine golds, five silvers and five bronzes.
The Americans could even bettered its gold tally to 10 if only Suziann Reid did not drop her baton after her three teammates had established a comfortable lead in the women's 4x400m relay which eventually was won by Jamaica.
However, the United States still has enough to cherish as it claimed victories in other two relays of the last-day competitions, taking the men's 4x100m and 4x400m titles in style.
Russia finished second in the tally with six golds, seven silvers and six bronzes for an identical total of 19 as the Americans reaped from the 10-day sports gala, including EPO suspect Olga Yegorova who beat the strong field to take the women' s 5,000m title yesterday.
Kenya ranked third with 3-3-1, followed by Cuba on 3-1-2. Six countries had two gold medals apiece, namely Germany, Ethiopia, Romania, Morocco, Poland and the Czech Republic, while a group of 13 countries have one gold each, namely, Belarus, Jamaica, Bahamas, Greece, Italy, Ukraine, South Africa, Australia, Britain, Dominican Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Switzerland.
The championships, the third largest next to the Summer Olympics and the soccer World Cup, was held for the first time in the North American continent, which has also produced two positive drug tests against Romanian javelin thrower Ana Mirela Termure and Belarussian 400m runner Natalya Sologub, both tested positive for norandrosterone, a metabolite of nandrolone.
In today's other finals, Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco took the men's 1,500m world title as the 27-year-old world recorder holder and three-time world champion clocked in 3:30.68 for his fourth 1, 500m world title, which he was reportedly not to compete in any more.
"It was a very easy race for me today, I came in confident and I knew if I can run my own race I can win it," said Guerrouj, " When I crossed the finish line, I wrote 'Thank You' with my hand to show my appreciation to all of them for believing in me."
Bernard Lagat of Kenya, who won the bronze medal in the Sydney Olympics, finished second in 3:31.10 while the bronze medal went to French record holder Driss Maazouzi in 3:31.54.
Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic, 35, who had three Olympic titles and two world titles to his credit, threw to a winning distance of 92.80 meters to take his third javelin world title, with the silver medal taken by defending champion Aki Parviainen of Finland in 91.31 meters and Greece's Konstadinos Gatsioudis, the 1999 world silver and 1997 world bronze medalist, took the bronze medal in 89.95 meters.
"This is my best result at a world championships, and I am only getting better with age and I think that is because I am understanding the javelin throw better as I get older. I am continuing to improve," said Zelezny.
South Africa's Hestrie Cloeteh won her first world title in the women's high jump as the 22-year-old Olympic silver medalist and reigning African and Commonwealth champion cleared all first four heights in her first attempts and beat the 2.00-meter in her second effort.
World champion Inga Babakova of Ukraine settled for the silver medal despite her success over the same height in her second effort as she only cleared 1.97m in her second attempt and Sweden' s Kajsa Bergqvist, the 2001 world indoor champion, cleared 1.97 meters in her first effort for the bronze medal.
"Certainly I give a hand to Babakova, but I read that she plans to compete until she's 37 so she's got plenty of time," said Cloeteh, "I'm trying to improve every year, I must continue to improve until 2004. South Africa saved the best until the last."
Maria de Lourdes Mutola, the 29-year-old Olympic champion and world indoor champion who had a national holiday declared in Mozambique after her win in Sydney, clocked in her time of 1:57.17 in the 800m, beating Olympic silver medalist Austrian Stephanie Graf into second in 1:57.20 and Letitia Vriesde of Suriname to third in 1:57.35.
"This was a pretty important victory for me. In a year's time I have won the Olympics, world indoor and now this," said Mutola, "It was a pretty tactical race. I started my kick a little late but I was able to come back from there. I think I have such an experience that I know what I'm doing. I do have a lot of confidence on myself."
In the last-day's first final, Olympic silver medalist Lidia Simon of Romania won her first ever world title in the women's marathon in 2:26.01 against seven silvers and bronzes from the Olympics, world championships marathons and half marathons.
The 27-year-old Simon who made her marathon debut at age 17, said afterwards that "it was the first for me and also the first for Romania in the marathon."
Tosa Reiko of Japan took the silver medal in 2:26:06, while Russian Svetlana Zakharova had the bronze medal in 2:26:18.
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