The South African men’s hockey team finally turned opportunities into goals, taking their frustrations of the pool matches out on Egypt by beating them 5-1 in the classification matches of the Olympic tournament.
Further down the scenic Greek coastline, Australia-based South African Megan Hall finished 36th in the women’s triathlon in a time of two hours, 16 minutes and 26 seconds, more than 12 minutes behind the eventual winner, Kate Allen of Austria, who came home in 2:04,43.
Canoeist Alan van Coller failed to qualify for the K1 1Â 000m final when he finished fifth in his semifinal contest but will be looking forward to Thursday’s 500m event for which he is a medal contender.
Diver Jenna Dreyer moved into the next round of the women’s 3m springboard preliminaries after finishing in 15th place with 164,34 points. The top 18 go through to the second round.
Good hockey win for SA
In the hockey, Greg Nicol wasted no time in opening the scoring from a penalty corner a little more than a minute into the match. The whole side was on the attack for once with defender Craig Fulton hammering home a shot in the sixth minute. Emile Smith had two out of three more goal shots in the following 10 minutes before Adnan Ahmed was able to convert a penalty stroke into points for Egypt.
The game dropped into some scrappy midfield play with more green cards than action. Forward Smith was given a sin-bin yellow in the 32nd minute, after having received one of the three green cards issued in the first half.
South Africa returned — still a man short — for the second half, determined not to allow a repeat of the second-half and golden-goal defeat they had suffered from the Egyptians in the continental competition.
Smith returned to the fray and extended the lead in the 49th minute, making it 3-1, with Nicol scoring from two shots in between a hail of attempts from Egypt.
It was by no means their most proficient demonstration of hockey skills but by far their greatest win, which takes them through to Friday’s play-off against Britain for ninth and 10th.
Promising start for Hall
Hall lined up for the triathlon facing a 1,5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run. The mid-morning start resulted in temperatures that commenced in the high twenties and climbed into the mid-thirties before the finish, making it a particularly challenging event.
Australian Lorretta Harrop came out of the swim first in 18 minutes and 37 seconds, with Hall 62 seconds adrift in a credible 15th position as she entered the cycle.
”I had a really, really, good swim today and then unfortunately on the bike I couldn’t fire at all. I am usually pretty strong on that side — but I couldn’t find my legs and it never seemed to come right at all,” said Hall about her cycling, which saw her drop back through the field to 38th position after the first of five hilly laps.
With each lap the lead was extended by about 90 seconds, with a total deficit of eight minutes and 25 seconds as she entered the second transition from cycle to run.
Hall lost another minute on each of three run laps to record a 10km time of 39 minutes and 53 seconds, only 20 seconds more than 35th-placed Canadian Carol Montgomery, who was previously a top 10Â 000m runner prior to focusing on triathlons.
”I was capable of about a top 15 here today,” said Hall, ”but everyone out there was competing and the heat proved such a big factor.
”It’s a really nice challenging course. On a good day I would be up there challenging on the bike. I don’t know what happened,” said Hall.
Conrad Stoltz will compete in Thursday’s men’s race.
Slow pace in canoeing
Van Coller took three minutes and 32,89 seconds to cover the 1Â 000m in his semifinal in the K1 event on Wednesday morning. Nathan Baggaley of Australia led the heat from start to record a time of 3:28,41.
Van Coller’s pace slowed slightly in the second and third quarters, which allowed Israel’s Roei Yellin, who had a very fast second 250m, to overtake and eventually finish third.
Dreyer more confident
Dreyer started her second experience in the pool with a much-needed confidence boosting first dive of 48,24 points. The 18-year old had been over-awed by the Olympic experience in her first outing in the 10m platform dive where she finished last, but was looking considerably more relaxed and fluent on the board in the 3m springboard event.
Lying 23rd after the first dive, Dreyer added a seventh-ranked second dive of 60,30 points to move her through to 16th overall. — Sapa
Special Report: Olympics 2004