A
Shaw thingCommonwealth Games Day 1
Matthew
Brown for the IAAF
26 July 2002 – Manchester, England -
Lorraine Shaw won the women's
hammer giving the host nation the first gold medal of the athletics programme at
these 17th Commonwealth Games, while on the track Kenya's Wilberforce Talel won
a dramatic four man blanket finish in the 10,000m final.
England’s Lorraine Shaw sent the 38,000 sell out crowd home at the end of the first day of the Commonwealth Games with a glow as warm as the unexpected Manchester sunshine by clinching the first gold medal of the Games after a thrilling hammer throw duel with Australia’s Bronwyn Eagles.
Shaw, who has a metal plate in her spine, showed steely determination to come from behind in the third round with a Commonwealth Games record of 66.83m, after Eagles had eclipsed Shaw’s first round lead with 65.24m on her third attempt. The Australian event favourite and world championships bronze medallist, could not produce another valid throw in the competition, and Shaw entered the circle for her final effort with the rhythmic clapping of the home crowd ringing in her ears and a grin as broad as her shoulders across her face.
The hammer clipped the cage and fell harmlessly to the turf but Shaw didn’t care. The 34 year-old had improved on her silver medal from four years ago to claim the first major international title of a career in which she has broken the British record 15 times. She danced into the infield, whirling her arms around her head in joy, before hugging Eagles and climbing the trackside boards to embrace her coach and snatch an England flag from the crowd.
“It’s absolutely wicked. I’m on top of the world,” she said afterwards.
Coming into the competition she was ranked fourth behind Eagles and two other Australians. “It was touch and go whether I would even win a medal,” said Shaw, who competes for local club Sale Harriers. “But I had a long one in the second round that hit the cage and I thought then ‘I know I can beat her’.”
The Gloucester-based athlete, who also coaches seventh placed finisher Zoe Derham, set a season’s best of 66.10m in the qualifying round to put fear into her rivals. That was less than half a metre below the championships record, a mark that didn’t last much longer, for a few hours later she eclipsed it in emphatic, and wildly celebrated, style.
The second final of the night also produced a Games record at the end of a closely fought men’s 10,000m race which finished with four men lunging for the line. The victory went to Kenya’s Wilberforce Talel, the world cross country bronze medallist, in 27:45.39, an amazing time considering the slow pace run throughout the first half of the race.
Talel came from behind in the last few strides, edging out his teammate Paul Kosgei, who clocked 27:45.46, with Tanzania’s John Yuda snatching the bronze from John Korir with a last ditch lean for the line. The Tanzanian set a personal best of 27:45.78, to Korir’s 27:45.83.
It was Yuda, the world cross country silver medallist, who had taken hold of the race after three slow kilometres. He attempted to break the three Kenyans by constantly changing the pace, putting in 60 and 61 second laps before slowing again. With ten laps to go the field was down to six, then five. With four to go, Korir took the lead and the second Tanzanian, Martin Sulle, was dropped.
It seemed Kosgei would lose touch too, but he hung on, and came from behind in the dramatic sprint for home to take silver, with Yuda slipping to fourth before clawing himself back into the medals with his last strides. Kenya’s one-two repeats their positions from 1998.
“The last lap was very tough,” said Talel. “With 15 metres to go I thought I was going to be second or third.”
Earlier in the evening England’s Mark Lewis-Francis emerged as the fastest man from the first two rounds of the men’s 100m, clocking 10.13 in the second round, marginally quicker than Dwain Chambers’ 10.17. The Brits easily won both their races, but Chambers wasn’t as comfortable as he should have been in round two after a poor start which left him a metre down on his rivals in the first few strides.
That will have given Lewis-Francis confidence for the final, and the former world junior champion promptly produced, for him, a near faultless start to comfortably see off the challenge of world finallist Kim Collins. “I’m excited about tomorrow, but I can’t afford to get too excited,” said the 19 year-old. “I have to keep my feet on the ground.”
“I’m letting my legs do all the talking at the moment,” said Chambers.
Their hopes of victory tomorrow were boosted by the non-appearance of Namibia’s Frankie Fredericks who, along with South Africa’s Morne Nagel, has opted to concentrate on the 200m.
The two young Englishmen won’t have it all their own way, however, for Deji Aliu looks to have recovered well from a virus that caused him to miss two weeks training and lose five kilogrammes of weight following the Nigerian championships earlier this season. The fastest man in the field this year, with a best of 10.03, he looked strong and relaxed running 10.16.
Olympic bronze medallist Obadele Thompson of Barbados withdrew from round two still suffering from the groin injury which kept him out of action last season.
Day one also saw the first two rounds of the men’s 400m, and the fastest times came in round one. World champion Avard Moncur of Bahamas, one of only three men to break 46 seconds, clocked 45.75 in the first round, just ahead of South African Marcus la Grange’s 45.92. World finallist Alleyne Francique of Granada posted 45.93 in the second round and headed a list of qualifiers that includes world indoor champion Daniel Caines of England and African champion Eric Milazar of Mauritius. Other notable names to go through were Jamaica’s Michael Blackwood, the fastest in the field this year.
It became a bad day for Welsh 400m running when the former world indoor champion Jamie Baulch decided not to run because he had failed to recover from a hamstring injury. His withdrawal came only two days the reigning champion, Iwan Thomas, pulled out of the individual event because of his continuing poor form.
South Africa’s Olympic bronze medallist Frantz Kruger set the first record of the Games in the men’s discus qualifying when he threw 66.25m. That was nearly two metres further than the previous Commonwealth Games record (64.42m), set by England’s Bob Weir when winning the gold in 1998. Weir qualified comfortably here, as did Canada’s Jason Tunks, bronze medallist four years ago, and these three should battle for the medals.
Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas posted the fastest time in the first round of the women’s 100m, 11.23, followed by Sri Lanka’s Olympic 200m bronze medallist Susanthike Jayasinghe (11.27). Ferguson’s teammate Savatheda Fynes and Jamaica’s former world junior champion Veronica Campbell, also looked strong, in 11.30 and 11.32 respectively. However, the two fastest women in the Commonwealth this year, reigning champion Chandra Sturrup and Jamaica’s Tayna Lawrence, did not run.
Jamaica’s Allison Beckford posted the fastest time of the first round of the women’s 400m. Her 52.29 was one of only four sub-53 second clockings. Jane Jamieson of Australia is leading at the heptathlon at the end of the first day with 3622 points, 39 ahead of her teammate Kylie Wheeler.
