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Wednesday, September 27
Devers pulls out halfway through race
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- It was a night of another Olympic
disappointment for Gail Devers, a night of triumph for a
little-known U.S. male hurdler and an easy night of work for Marion
Jones.
|  | | Gail Devers couldn't get through the 100 hurdles race after she tore her left hamstring. |
With an injured Devers suddenly reduced to the role of
spectator, a hurdler who missed the last Olympics on a drug ban
captured the one medal Devers truly wanted.
Olga Shishigina of Kazakstan won the 100-meter hurdles Wednesday
in 12.65 seconds. Glory Alozie of Nigeria won the silver and
Melissa Morrison of the United States -- wearing dark glasses at
night -- won the bronze.
Alozie's fiance was killed when hit by a car in Sydney a few
days before the games opened. He had been training with the
Nigerian team before the Olympics.
American Angelo Taylor won gold in the men's 400-meter hurdles.
Germany's Nils Schumann held off Wilson Kipketer at the finish line
of the 800 meters to win that race. In women's events, Russia's
Irina Privalova won the 400-meter hurdles and Ellina Zvereva of
Belarus won the discus with a throw of 224 feet, 5 inches (68.40
meters).
It was a quick night of work for Jones. She continued her quest
for five gold medals by reaching the semifinals of the 200 and
advancing to the long jump final on her first qualifying jump with
a leap of 22 feet, 3 inches (6.78 meters).
Shishigina missed the 1996 Atlanta Olympics while serving a
two-year drug ban. She was suspended for four years in May 1996 for
testing positive for stanozolol, the same steroid that cost Ben
Johnson a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Games. Her ban later was cut
to two years.
In the women's 100-meter hurdles, Devers was favored to finally
win a medal that had eluded her for so long. But she stopped midway
through her semifinal with a left hamstring tear and did not finish
the race.
It was the latest chapter in the hard-luck Olympic saga of
Devers, who just missed out on medals at the 1992 and 1996 games.
"I don't think luck has anything to do with track and field. I
think it's skill," she said. "I'd say my skills were not good
enough to keep me going tonight. And that's the end of the story."
Devers has been one of the world's best hurdlers for the past
decade, but has never won a medal in Olympic hurdles. All three of
her gold medals at the Barcelona and Atlanta games -- including two
100-meter titles -- came in sprints.
Devers made a heroic recovery from a serious illness just to
compete in the 1992 Olympics.
She did not compete in 1989 and 1990 because of Graves Disease,
a thyroid abnormality that caused her feet to swell so much she was
within days of having them amputated.
"My aim was to make it to the final and give it my all until
the leg falls off," she said. "Is this a jinx? Is this '92 all
over again? No. I have the utmost faith and belief in God and my
spirituality, and I know he had plans for me."
In the men's 1,500-meter semifinal, defending champion
Nourredine Morceli of Algeria stopped on the final straight after
he was spiked by another competitor. He walked across the finish
line in disgust, spitting on the ground.
Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj won his semifinal heat in 3
minutes, 37.60 seconds. American Jason Pyrah also advanced to
the final Friday.
In the men's 200, Americans Floyd Heard, Coby Miller and John
Capel all advanced to the semifinals. So did Ato Boldon, who is
favored.
U.S. decathlete Chris Huffins had 4,554 points to lead after
five events. Dean Macey was eight points behind, and Erki Nool was
third. American Tom Pappas was fourth with 4,476 points after the
first day of the two-day competition.
American pole vaulters Lawrence Johnson and Nick Hysong advanced
to the final. But 1988 Olympic champion Sergei Bubka and defending
champion Jean Galfione were eliminated in the qualifying round.
In the men's hurdles, Taylor ran a personal-best time of 47.50
seconds but had to lean at the finish to edge Hadi Souan Somayli of
Saudi Arabia -- who won his nation's first Olympic medal. Llewellyn
Herbert of South Africa won the bronze.
In the men's 800, Schumann won in 1 minute, 45.08 seconds.
Kipketer got the silver and Aissa Djabir Said-Guerni of Algeria won
the bronze.
Privalova, the 1992 Olympic bronze medalist in the 100 meters,
won the women's 400-meter hurdles in 53.02 seconds. Deon Hemmings
of Jamaica won the silver, Nouzha Bidouane of Morocco the bronze.
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