SEOUL, Reuter: Five years ago an Olympic Swimming Gold Medal for Surinam was about as likely as Gabon winning a medal at Ice Hockey.
There is just one 50 meter pool and 10 smaller pools in the former Dutch colony where soccer is the people’s game and a man’s proudest possession is his” canary song bird.
On Wednesday Anthony Nesty, in the space of 53.00 seconds, replaced Soccer star Ruud Gullitt who plays for the Dutch National Team as Surinam’s sporting hero by winning the Olympic 100 meters butterfly final.
“It is Surinam’s First Olympic Medal and its first Gold Medal in any sport,” Nesty stated proudly after beating prerace favourite American Matt Biondi by ‘one hundredth of a second.
Officials at the post-race news conference had great difficulty digging outa Surinam Flag, highlighting the surprise at Nesty’s win.
But Nesty, a black athlete in a sport dominated by white swimmers has solid form behind him.
SEOUL, Reuter: Two words on the bottom of Christa Luding’s marriage certificate mean more to her than the whole page of Olympic history she wrote in 1988.
For the Speed skater Cyclist who spends her life racing anticlockwise around tracks, her marriage to trainer Ernest Luding was the only real right t turn she ‘made all year.
A unique double in winter and summer games paled in comparison to signing her name on the dotted line.
“My wedding in April was the most beautiful event for me this year, “she said after capturing a Silver Medal in the Women’s Olympic Cycling sprint.
SEOUL, Reuter: Naim Suleymanoglu, the Turkish Hercules who smashed all his World Weigh lifting records on the way to an Olympic Gold, is worth his weight in Gold.
A team official said a Turkish Bank had given the Olympic Featherweight Champion 3421/2 gold coins 1o mark his victory ~ one for each kg in his world record total lift.
SEOUL, Reuter: Kim ChongHa, President of the South Korean National Olympic Committee, resigned on Saturday, saying he wanted to end the controversy over Thursday’s riot by National Boxing Officials and fans.
Kim told a news conference he hoped his departure would help ensure the ‘games were completed without further acrimony.
The riot was sparked by a controversial point’s decision which eliminated South Korean Bantamweight Byun JongIl from the Boxing Tournament.
SEOUL: UWE Dassler of East Germany set a world record of three minutes 46.95 seconds in the men’s 400 metres freestyle,
The old mark of 3:47.38 was set by Artur Wojdat of Poland on March 25, 1988 at Orlando.
SEOUL: Portugal’s Rosa Motel eased away over the final five km to win the women’s marathon and the first athletics gold of the Seoul Olympics.
The victory completed an impressive set of titles for the 30 year old Portuguese and stole some of the limelight from fierce sprint rivals Carl Lewis ‘and Ben Johnson on the opening day of track and field competition.
Mota, the World and European Champion, was never out of the leading group and pulled away from Australian Lisa Martin and East German Katrin Doerre over the final stages to convert her Los Angeles Bronze to Gold.
Mota clocked two hours 25 minutes 39 seconds with Martin taking the silver 100 metres behind and Doerre the bronze.
SEOUL, Sept 24, Reuter; Matt Biondi of the United States set a world record of 22.14 seconds on Saturday when he won the men’s 50 metres freestyle title at the Olympic Games.
The previous mark of 22, 23 was set by American Tom Jager in Orlando, Florida, in March.
SEOUL, Reuter: Australia set a 4 km team pursuit Cycling World Record of four minutes 16.32 seconds in the Olympic velodrome,
The quartet of Brett Dutton, Wayne McCarey, Stephen McGlede and Dean Woods improved the 4:17.71 set by Czechoslovakia in 1986,
SEOUL, Reuter: Golden Girl Krisi in Oto swam to her fourth title and Mant Biondi made it a hat trick on a world record day in the Olympic pool on Friday but there was trouble for track stars at the Seoul games.
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