Gevaert claims first Belgian gold
Gevaert's moment of glory
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Portugal's Francis Obikwelu recovered from a slow start to leave his rivals trailing in his wake and win European Championship 100m gold in Gothenburg this afternoon. |  |
Wednesday, 09, Aug 2006 10:26
Kim Gevaert has become the first Belgian to win an outdoor European athletics title as she claimed gold in the women's 100m in Gothenburg.
The silver-medallist from 2002 cruised home in 11.06secs, well ahead of Russian duo Yekaterina Grigoryeva and Irina Khabarova.
Great Britain's Joice Maduaka suffered a slow start and this ultimately cost her a medal as she finished two-hundredths of a second behind Khabarova in fourth place.
"I've worked so hard this year and this is the first time I have done a good 100m at a big championship because so many times I have messed up," Gevaert said.
"I knew I had to do a big start and that gave me the wings to just keep on going and I was so happy to be the first across the line."
Meanwhile, Jan Zelezny failed to claim the one title that has eluded him during his great career.
The 40-year-old Czech athlete finished third in the men's javelin with a throw of 85.92m, with Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway winning the gold with a throw of 88.78m.
Olympic long jump champion Tatyana Lebedeva also added the European title to her CV with a championship-record jump in the final round of the women's triple jump.
Greece's Hrisopiyi Devetzi had led the field since the first round, when she set a new record mark of 15.05m, only for the Russian to surpass her in the final round with a leap of 15.15m.
Russia also claimed gold in the men's high jump as Andrey Silnov surprised everyone to upset Sweden's Olympic champion Stefan Holm.
Holm was hoping to win in his homeland but was beaten into third, with Silnov claiming gold with a leap of 2.36m.