Unburdened from a doping taint, Australia reverted to usual Commonwealth Games form on Friday with its athletes capturing half of the gold medals on the second day of competition.
After rigorous testing, the suspicious syringes, vials and tablets discovered at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra after a pre-Commonwealth Games weightlifting camp showed no traces of performance-enhancing substances.
The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (Asada) finding was a relief for Commonwealth Games organisers, lifting the gloom after days of doping speculation.
The host nation’s cyclists swept three finals, Leisel Jones and Danni Miatke added a pair in the pool, the shooters split the six gold on offer at the range with India, and the gymnasts won the women’s team event.
After adding nine gold medals to the unusually meagre three they captured on day one, they moved eight gold medals clear of second-place India on the medal standings.
Weightlifting
A reprieve for Melbourne 2006 wasn’t the last word for weightlifting, however, with the Asada launching an investigation into the sport after spate of recent doping cases and accusations.
Australian Weightlifting Federation president Sam Coffa said his sport had nothing to fear from the inquiry, and then lashed out at critics.
”I am utterly and simply disgusted at the way the media has projected this, in other words jumping to conclusions and telling the wide world that that was drugs found, drugs and syringes,” he said.
Chinthana Vidanage returned the focus to the bars and dumbbells, breaking Sri Lanka’s 12-year Commonwealth Games gold-medal drought when he won on a countback from India’s Arun Murugesan in the men’s 62kg division.
Both finished with a combined total of 271kg after Vindage added 3kg to his final lift to pull even and win because his bodyweight — the tiebreaker — was 80g less than Murugesan’s.
Canada’s Maryse Turcotte won the women’s 53km class with two Games records, including a combined lift of 188kg, beating Papua New Guinea’s Dika Toua by 7kg.
New Zealand maintained their unbeaten record in Commonwealth Games rugby sevens, claiming a third consecutive gold medal with a 29-21 grand final win over England.
Playmaker Amasio Valence, who played in 1998 and 2002, became the third New Zealander to win gold at three consecutive Commonwealth Games.
The New Zealanders beat Australia 21-19 in the semifinals, while England advanced on a 21-14 semifinal upset over World Cup sevens champions Fiji.
Australian cyclists Ryan Bayley (keirin), Kate Bates (25km points race) and Sean Finning (40km points race) increased Australia’s haul to five gold from six events in two days at the velodrome.
Swimming
With Ian Thorpe socialising on the sidelines again — conversing with United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a night after sharing a joke with British monarch Queen Elizabeth II — the women carried Australia’s hopes in the pool.
Jones upset world record-holder Jade Edmistone in the 50m breaststroke final, setting up an assault on the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke sweep. Jones is the world champion and world record-holder in the 100 and 200 events. Edmistone was second and teammate Tarnee White took bronze.
Australian women also swept the 50m butterfly medals, led home by world champion Miatke.
Englishmen had 1-2 finishes in the 50m backstroke and 200m freestyle.
Matthew Clay won the one-lap backstroke, upsetting teammate Liam Tancock, and Ross Davenport was too fast in the 200m freestyle.
Thorpe, the world record-holder and Olympic 200m champion, was unable to compete in Melbourne because of a viral illness.
”It was very exciting because I’m not known as a 50m swimmer and ever since I was quite young, I’ve had slow starts,” said Jones, the world champion in the 100m and 200m breaststroke events. ”I’m putting things into place now.”
South Africa’s Natalie du Toit set a world record of 29,27 seconds over the 50m freestyle in the elite athletes disability category. Du Toit will also try to qualify for the 800m freestyle in open company.
At shooting, Samaresh Jung’s bid for eight gold medals here started with a minor setback. Manchester 2002 champions Jung and Vivek Singh were second to Australia duo Daniel Repacholi and David Moore in men’s 50m pistol pairs.
It forced Jung to reassess his targets for Melbourne. ”This silver gives me mixed feelings — dejected not to have won a gold but hopeful that I can still win medals in all eight events,” he said. ”It may not be a gold every time, but I know I can do it.” — Sapa-AP