Little princess steals show from aging king

By Patrick Vignal

GOTHENBURG, Sweden (Reuters) – Kim Gevaert, dreaming of
becoming the little princess of the European championships,
seized the 100 metres crown on Wednesday but aging javelin king
Jan Zelezny missed out again on the only title to elude him.

Belgium’s Gevaert, who had to be content with two silvers
at the last European championships four years ago in Munich, is
the favorite to win two sprint gold medals here and has already
grabbed one in style.

The unassuming 28-year-old confidently led from the gun to
cross the line in 11.06 seconds, finishing comfortably ahead of
the Russian pair of Yekaterina Grigoryeva and Irina Khabarova,
who took silver and bronze respectively, both in 11.22 seconds.

Asked before the competition whether she might turn out to
be the queen of the Gothenburg, Gevaert had modestly said: “A
queen? No. Kajsa (Bergqvist) and Carolina (Kluft), those are
the queens. I’d be happy if I could be a little princess.”

After becoming Belgium’s first female European champion,
she proudly said: “I made Belgian history today. The pressure
was enormous and I was very nervous but during the race I
managed to stay calm.”

Minutes after Gevaert lived up to expectations, Zelezny
totally missed his final throw to finish third in the javelin
contest, won by Norway’s Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen
ahead of Finn Tero Pitkamaki.

BREATHTAKING FINAL

Three-times Olympic and world champion Zelezny failed to
roll back the years at the same Ullevi stadium where he had won
world championship gold 11 years ago.

The 40-year-old Czech world record holder, who will retire
later this year and will be remembered as the greatest javelin
thrower in history, has surprisingly never finished higher than
third at European championships.

“Some people did not trust me but I showed them that
despite my age I can still throw with the younger boys,” he
said.

The day that saw Gevaert steal the limelight from one of he
greatest names in athletics ended with a breathtaking 400
metres final in which Frenchman Marc Raquil produced a
fantastic late surge to deny Russian Vladislav Frolov.

Raquil won in 45.02 seconds while Frolov had to be content
with the silver in 45.09.

France had been hoping for their first one-two at European
championships in 37 years but it was not to be, Leslie Djhone
settling for the bronze in 45.40.

On a memorable day for the French, Mehdi Baala easily won
the 1,500 metres, becoming the first man since Briton Steve
Cram in 1986 to retain the European title for that event.

Baala won in 3:39.02 with world indoor champion Ivan Heshko
of Ukraine finishing a distant second in 3:39.50 and Spaniard
Juan Carlos Higuero completing the podium in 3:39.62.

HOLM THIRD

Sweden were hoping for another golden day after Carolina
Kluft’s home triumph in the heptathlon on Tuesday and were
pinning all their hopes on Stefan Holm, the Olympic high jump
champion.

The shaven-headed Holm could go no higher than 2.34 metres
and finished third. Russian Andrey Silnov, the only man to
clear 2.36 metres on the night, won ahead of Czech Tomas Janku,
who cleared 2.34 like Holm.

Another Olympic champion suffered on Wednesday. Fani Halkia
of Greece missed out on the gold in the women’s 400 metres
hurdles fnal.

Halkia had victory in sight until Russian Yevgeniya Isakova
outsprinted her to win in a personal best 53.93 seconds. Halkia
took the silver in 54.02 seconds while Ukraine’s Tetyana
Tereshchuk-Antipova won the bronze in 54.55.

Not all the top names cracked under pressure, Olympic long
jump champion Tatyana Lebedeva living up to her reputation as a
formidable competitor in the triple jump.

A final effort at 15.15 metres gave the 30-year-old Russian
victory over Hrisopiyi Devetzi of Greece.

Lebedeva has won many battles over the years but sounded as
excited as a teenager after this one.

“I risked it all on that last jump and it paid off,” she
said. “It was a great fight.”