Stunning performances, numbing surprises

THE MOST unprecedented scenes ever witnessed as track and field fans voiced their feelings about the doping cheats overshadowed the action in the eighth World athletics championships.

For the first time in the history of the event a gold medal winner was booed across the winning line, then booed again nearly 24 hours later when she collected her gold medal.

Russian 5,000 metres winner Olga Yegorova will forever be branded as the cheat who stole the title.

For many spectators and athletes alike Yegorova should never have been allowed to compete here after she became the first athlete to test positive for the endurance-boosting drug EPO.

The sport's governing body IAAF was forced to let her run after it was revealed that the French authorities who had carried out the test last month had failed to follow the correct procedure, allowing Yegorova to escape a ban on a technicality.

Defending 5,000m champion Gabriela Szabo of Romania was furious and threatened to boycott the race if Yegorova competed - another first in peer power against the cheats.

In the end Szabo relented but after the race she kept up the war of words with the Russian. ``To me she is not the World champion. I ran to show I wasn't afraid of the Russians.''

Yegorova rejects the charges levelled against her. ``I do not consider myself guilty,'' she said defiantly. But the Edmonton public did not believe her.

``You are a cheat,'' shouted someone after she received her gold medal.

But despite the overpowering shadow that Yegorova cast over the championships, there were some stunning performances and some numbing surprises.

The biggest shock was when sprint queen Marion Jones found herself dethroned, losing her first 100m race in 56 outings when she was outpaced by Zhanna Pintusevich-Block of Ukraine.

But the 25-year-old American managed to put the shock of losing behind her to come back and win her first ever 200m World championship title.

Maurice Greene won his third straight World 100m title when he led a U.S. clean sweep in the final.

The 27-year-old's hopes of breaking his own World record vanished when he could only manage 9.82 sec but it was still the third- fastest 100m race of all time with five sprinters coming in under 10 seconds.

But Greene's hopes of a sprint double vanished in the last 10 metres of the 100m final when he pulled a hamstring.

While Greene watched from the stands Konstadinos Kederis of Greece added the world 200m title to his Olympic gold in one of the most exciting 200m races ever seen.

Although the 28-year-old Kederis won easily the other medal spots gave the judges a nightmare as three sprinters crossed the line in a straight row.

Jamaica's Christopher Williams, American Shawn Crawford and Kim Collins of St. Kitts were all clocked at the same time. In the end Williams got silver while Crawford and Collins shared bronze.

Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco bowed out of his last ever 1,500m race by easing to his third successive World title and banished memories of his stunning Olympics defeat last year.

The 27-year-old World record holder, who is to step up to 5,000m without ever winning the Olympic title at 1,500m, was so comfortable he started celebrating halfway down the home straight and then having crossed the line knelt down and wrote out ``I love you all'' on the track.

The Canadian crowd loved it.

They also loved the stunning performance from Cuba's Ivan Pedroso. Once again he rose to the big occasion by getting his timing just right to win his fourth consecutive World outdoor title.

Pedroso's victory prompted the man he beat into second Savante Stringfellow of the United States, to describe him as ``one of the greatest long jumpers of all time.''

``This is the first good result for me this season and it came at the right time and in the right place,'' said Pedroso.

American hurdling legend Allen Johnson rebounded from his Sydney Olympics failure to end a four-year title drought to win the men's 110m hurdles World title for the third time.

The 30-year-old said the victory made worthwhile his decision not to retire when he was in the depths of despair after losing his Olympic title in Sydney.

``If people had said in 1997 I would not win a title till now I would have thought they were crazy,'' he said adding ``this means more to me than Atlanta in 1996 because it is a statement to those who thought I was over the top that I am not and I am the man to beat once again.''

The biggest surprise of the the championships was the defeat of the king of the 10,000m - Haile Gebrselassie.

It was Charles Kamathi of Kenya who finally put paid to the Ethiopian's dominance of the event.

``Being the first man to beat Gebrselassie since 1995 would be any athlete's proudest moment but I knew when I came here I could win the gold,'' said Kamathi.

But even in defeat Gebrselassie never lost his trademark grin, going over to Kamathi to be the first to congratulate him.

``I'm not disappointed, why should I be,'' said the Ethiopian. ``I tried my best but in the last 100 metres I don't know what happened. I couldn't do anything, he said.

The 35-year-old Jan Zelezny proved again he is the best javelin thrower in the World as he added a third World title to his three Olympic golds.

The announcer in the Commonwealth Stadium described him as ``the incomparable Jan Zelezny'' - he might have called the new World champion ``the unconquerable Jan Zelezny'', such is the Czech's will to win.

``This is my best result at a World championships. You can see that I am only getting better with age, and I think that is because I am understanding the javelin throw better as I get older,'' Zelezny said, adding ominously for his rivals, ``I am continuing to improve.'' Gracing the final day with Zelezny,was Germany's Lars Riedel,who claimed a fifth discus title.

The next world championships are in Paris in 2003 and the IAAF will be hoping the scenes that happened here with Yegorova will not be repeated.

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