Thursday 21 September 2000
Coverage from the Olympic Stadium as the track and field events get underway. Women's 800m round 1; men's 400m round 1; men's 100m round 1; women's 100m round 1. Commentary by Stuart Storey, David Coleman, Steve Cram, Paul Dickenson, Brendan Foster, Sally Gunnell and Christina Boxer.
Friday 22 September 2000
Featuring women's 5000m round 1; men's shot put final; women's 400m round 1; women's 100m round 1; men's 100m round 2; men's 10000m round 1. Commentary by Stuart Storey, David Coleman, Steve Cram, Paul Dickenson, Brendan Foster, Sally Gunnell and Christina Boxer.
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| 14:00-15:30 |
| ATHLETICS: Olympic Games at Sydney's Olympic Stadium |
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Women's 5000m Round 1; Men's Shot Put Final; Men's High Jump Qualifying Round; Women's 400m Round 1; Women's Triple Jump Qualifying Round; Women's 100m Round 2; Men's 100m Round 2; Men's 1km Round 1. Delayed.
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| 20:30-22:15 |
| ATHLETICS: Olympic Games at Sydney's Olympic Stadium |
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Highlights and interviews.
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Olympic
Games: Sydney: Men's 10,000m
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Haile
Gebrselassie
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Haile
Gebrselassie is the undisputed present-day king of the 10,000m, and if all
goes to plan, he'll be crowned as Olympic Champion for another four years
on Wednesday 26th. In the four years leading up to the
1999 World Championships in Seville, his ethos erred in favour of quality
rather than quantity.
During that period, Gebrselassie entered seven races
- in which he earnt three World Championships, three world records, and Olympic
Gold in Atlanta. But his
feet blistered badly in that 1996 gold medal run, causing him to shelve
plans for a remarkable 5,000m/10,000m double, a feat which looks perfectly
within his grasp this time around.
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Paul
Tergat
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Paul Tergat,
denied by the great one four years ago, still ranks as the Ethiopian's nearest
challenger, and recorded the fastest time in the world this year in Brussells.
He's at the forefront of an embarrassingly strong Kenyan team - nine out
of the fastest dozen atheletes this year could have represented Kenya, if
they weren't limited to just three atheletes per team.
Fortunately for the defending champion, and unfortunately for world-class
atheletes like Evans Rutto, Wilberforce Taleli and Dominic Kirui, it does
mean that half of the world's top dozen runners won't be in the race for
Olympic Gold.
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Rob
Denmark
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Kenyans aside,
the only competitors who could deny Gebrselassie on a bad day are probably
his own team-mates, Girma Tola and Assefa Mezegebu.
Rob Denmark
leads the British charge, but don't expect a miracle - the only Europeans
ranked in the top 20 this year are Spaniards Jose Rios and Teodoro Cunado.
Olympic Games:
Sydney: Women's 10,000m
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Paula
Radcliffe
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Paula Radcliffe
offers one of Britain's best chances of gaining a medal on the track when
she competes in the 10,000m. The Bedford & County runner already has
a silver medal from the World Championships in Seville under her belt, and
would dearly love to go one better.
But she faces
a tough task ahead - with Barcelona 10000m gold medallist Derartu Tulu announcing
last month that she's opted to race on the track, instead of competing in
the Marathon. The Ethopian trio, of Tulu, World Champion Gete Wami and Berhane
Adere - fastest woman in the world this year - are good enough for a clean
sweep of the medals, and that's without 19-year-old Merima Hashim, who has
recorded the third fastest time in 2000.
Tulu, who has
set her heart on regaining her olympic gold, has already come back from
two years in the wilderness - because of injury and maternity leave - to
reclaim her world cross country title.
Defending Olympic
champion, Portugal's Fernanda Ribeiro, can't be discounted either, as shouldn't
Belgium's Marleen Renders, and the Italian duo of Maura Viceconte and Silvia
Somaggio.
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