SCOOP Olympic Update, Tuesday, 26 Sept, 2000
SCOOP Olympic Update, Tuesday, 26 Sept, 2000
Article:
Mathew Loh
THE dreams of Olympic medal glory for New
Zealand's women's hockey team depend on a win against
Argentina tonight after the Kylie Foy led Kiwis suffered a
disappointing 2-2 draw against Spain on Monday
night.
However New Zealand's chances of medal success are in good hands given the immense effort and never-say-die attitude of this remarkable hockey team.
Last night
they again revealed their tremendous character to earn a
draw after trailing by one early in the first half and then
seeing what appeared to be a perfectly legitimate equalising
goal disallowed.
Despite being down about the rejected
goal New Zealand simply went harder - an attitude that bodes
well for future medal success - and went to take a 2-1 lead
only see the Spanish snatch a draw in the last minutes of
play.
This means New Zealand has to win against
Argentina later tonight in what should be an extremely
intriging and exciting clash between two highly skilled and
very fit teams.
Other New Zealanders to feature on day
10 of 27th Olympiad included former world champion discus
thrower and one of NZ's most popular athletes - Beatrice
Faumina who qualified ninth for the next rounds of the
discus competition.
But the 10th day of the Sydney 2000 belonged to 400 metre star and Australia's most popular athtlete the phenomenal Cathy Freeman who after appearing to be under pressure early cruised away with the power of a Formula 1 Ferrari to blitz the field to win what surely is the most famous and expected gold of the 27th Olympiad.
The only other athlete to come close to
Freeman's sprinting class was the awe-inspiring Michael
Johnson of the USA who added Sydney 400 metres gold to his
Atlanta gold; world record and bevy of other world and major
championship titles.
While Freeman and Johnson
impressed as sprinters extraordinaire long distance runners
Haile Gebraselasie of Ethiopia and Gabriela Szabo of Romania
also underlined their world-beating endurance by winning
gold medals in the men's 10,000 metres and the women's 5,000
metres respectively.
In races where both world
champions were pressured all the way they both revealed
sensational stamina and speed to leave their rivals in their
wake, when it counted, on the final dash, for gold, down the
back straight in front of a multitude of delirious and
admiring athletics
fans.