It has to be admitted that your trusty correspondant is a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to the Olympic games. Week one = swimming and week 2 = athletics. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy just about every sport played on the planet and have become an instant expert on obscure sports I would not normally think twice about watching, such as Archery, trap shooting and Trampolining ie: sports where totally unknown Australians have somehow managed to win a medal and even fascinating sports like Handball which are virtually unknown here and where we have no chance at all.

As expected (and as per usual) the Americans dominated the swim meet if you go solely on medals won. However, without a doubt, the biggest stars were the Dutch pair of Inge de Bruijn and Pieter van den Hoogenband and Aussie Ian Thorpe. Unfortunately space does not permit me to go through every race, so I will restrict myself to listing the world records (in order of occurance):

Other highlights in the pool included Australia scoring a goal in the last second of the match to beat the Usa for the womens water polo gold medal, Italy winning their first ever gold medal and of course how could one not mention Eric 'the Eel' Moussambini from Equatorial Guinea who almost drowned in his 100 metre heat in a time that could be beaten by most of you, dear readers. Is this not what the Olympics are all about rather than some bunch of pampered egotistical multi millionare basketball players who don't even stay with the other athletes and win a gold medal by beating a bunch of part-time bank tellers, shop assistants and pizza delivery boys. Your comments on this issue would be much appreciated...

Other memorable moments away from the pool in the first week included Marion Jones blitzing the field in the womens 100m final, Czech javelin thrower Jan Zelezny winning his third olympic title in a row, Great Britain's Steve Redgrave winning a fifth gold medal in his fifth olympics, the German pursuit team breaking the magic 4 minute barrier for the 4000m at the velodrome... the list is endless really.

As an Australian I am relieved the opening ceremony was not too cringe inducing (although even i struggled to work out that the cardboard boxes were supposed to represent sheep), amazed that our public transport system seems to be coping, happy that the weather has been good (even if it is raining at this very moment for the first time, although not at my place which is about halfway between the main stadium and the CBD), impressed that our nation of around 19 million people is currently third in the medal tally and absolutely sick to death of the Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi chant, so I can imagine how non Aussies must feel!!!

The top 5 in the medal tally as at 10pm Monday (BST) stands at:

Of interest:

Next Week: the remainder of the Athletics program and everything else I can fit in along with a very special adjusted medal tally based on head of population that puts the Americans and Chinese in their place!

Linus...official Post Olympics Correspondant

25.09.00. Front Page

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