Israel won their first Olympic gold medal on Wednesday when a man whose father named him after the sea won a windsurfing class at the Athens Games, while track cyclists led Australia to equal their highest Olympic medal tally.
Gal Fridman — his first name means ”wave” in Hebrew — dived into the Saronic Gulf after winning the first gold in the Jewish state’s 56-year history in the 11-race Mistral series.
”Every Olympics we dream of hearing the anthem and seeing the flag. It’s the top,” Fridman said. ”I was feeling very proud and so happy to hear the people singing it. I sang as strong as I could, but nobody heard it because everybody was screaming.”
Israel’s Olympic legacy is primarily somber — political complications, occasional snubs by athletes from Islamic countries and, overshadowing all else, the killing of 11 athletes and coaches who were seized by a Palestinian terrorist group called Black September at the 1972 Games in Munich.
In 12 previous Olympics dating to 1952, Israel had won only one silver and three bronze medals. Fridman won a bronze in his event in 1996.
The United States lead the medal count with 25 golds, 29 silver and 22 bronze after 11 days of competition and 215 medal events.
China are second with 24-16-12.
Australia are a surprising third after equaling their best-ever Olympic total of 16 golds with two wins on the final night of track cycling. Australia won 16 golds, 25 silvers and 17 bronze when they hosted the Olympics in Sydney four years ago. They have cycling to thank for their plunder in Athens, which includes 11 silver and 15 bronze.
The Aussies won 10 cycling medals in Athens — six golds, two silvers and two bronzes.
Stuart O’Grady won his first gold and his fourth Olympic medal when he partnered Graeme Brown in the Madison. Russian Olga Slyusareva added Olympic gold to her collection of world championships, easily winning the points race ahead of Belem Guerrero Mendez of Mexico and Colombia’s Maria Luisa Calle Williams.
Then Ryan Bayley won the Keirin, a day after winning the sprint.
Spain’s Jose Escuredo was second and Australia picked up their final cycling medal with Shane Kelly taking bronze.
Triathlon and baseball nearly created the Australian record.
Kate Allen won the women’s triathlon, passing everyone in the close of the 10km run. Allen, who was born down under but relocated to Austria, beat Australian Loretta Harrop, with American Susan Williams third.
It was silver again at the baseball for Australia as favourite Cuba won 6-2 for their second Athens gold.
At the Olympic Stadium, Greece had a surprise win in the 400m hurdles, with Fani Halkia spurred on by chants of ”Hellas, Hellas” to win in 52,82 seconds over Ionela Tirlea-Manolache of Romania and Tetiana Tereshchuk-Antipova of Ukraine. World champion Jana Pittman of Australia, racing less than three weeks after arthroscopic surgery on her right knee, finished fifth and world record holder Yuliya Pechenkina was last.
Jamaican Veronica Campbell won gold in the 200 in 22,05 seconds, beating American Allyson Felix and Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas.
Russia’s Olga Kuzenkova won the women’s hammer throw, beating Cubans Yipsi Moreno and Yunaika Crawford.
Marion Jones made her first appearance in Athens and qualified for the long-jump final.
”It’s a little bit about a gold, but I think to me it’s a lot more about coming out here, doing my best in the midst of a hell of a year,” said Jones, who is the subject of a steroid investigation, has been accused by her ex-husband of using banned drugs in Sydney and gave birth to a son 14 months ago. She failed to qualify to defend her Sydney 100m title.
America’s four-time world champion Allen Johnson clipped a hurdle, fell in the opening heats of the men’s 110m hurdles, and failed to advance.
Less than 24 hours after capturing his first Olympic gold medal in the 1 500m, Hicham El Guerrouj took another step toward a rare double when he advanced to the final of the 5 000m.
The Netherlands won their fifth gold when Anky van Grunsven and her horse Salinero danced their way to gold in the Olympic individual dressage finals to overtake Germany’s Ulla Salzgeber on Rusty.
In wrestling, Hungary’s Istvan Majoros won the 55kg division, Azerbaijan’s Farid Mansurov took the 66kg gold and Alexei Michine of Russia took the 84kg division. In the 120kg division, defending champion Rulon Gardner of the US surprising lost his semifinal to Georgiy Tsurtsumia of Kazakstan but rallied to win bronze. Russian Khasan Baroev won the gold over Tsurtsumia.
Ricardo Alex Santos and Emanuel Rego won Brazil’s second gold of the Games by winning the men’s beach volleyball final over Spaniards Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera 21-16, 21-15. Swiss pair Stefan Kobel and Patrick Heuscher were third.
Iran won gold in the men’s 105kg weightlifting class for their only medal of the Athens Games. Hossein Rezazadeh tied his own world record with 472,5 kg. Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova of Russia won the syncronised swimming duet ahead of Japan and the US.
Meanwhile, prosecutors seized the hospital records of disgraced sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, who withdrew from the Olympics after missing a doping test and crashing on a motorcycle.
Kenteris won the 200m in Sydney and Thanou the silver in 2000.
The two athletes crashed on a motorcycle and were hospitalised a few hours after they could not be found at the Olympic Village for a drug test.
In another development, police arrested a man who said he witnessed the motorcycle accident, a police and court source said.
The man was taken into custody after police discovered he had an outstanding warrant against him for a fraud conviction in an unrelated case. — Sapa-AP
Special Report: Olympics 2004