XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, August 8-24-Didon gets 50m freestyle PB |18 August 2008
Competing as an invitee, Didon was fourth out of eight competitors in his heat and finished 85th overall out of 97 swimmers in 13 heats.
Brazilian Cielho Filho Cesar won the gold medal in a time of 21.30 seconds on Saturday inside the Water Cube, relegating Frenchmen Amaury Leveaux (21.45 seconds) and Alain Bernard (21.49 seconds) into second and third positions for the silver and bronze medals.
World record holder Eamon Sullivan of Australia could only finish sixth with 21.65 seconds, while South African Roland Schoeman was seventh with 21.67 seconds.
In sailing, Allan Julie was not in action last Thursday as all races were rescheduled because of bad weather.
He resumed competition last Friday and was placed 33rd in race number four won by Paul Goodison of Great Britain. Former five-time Sportsman of the Year Julie was ranked 27th in race number five on Saturday. Croatian Luca Radelic dominated the race in 10 knots of wind to finish first.
Julie took 33rd and 37th positions in the first two races last Tuesday and a 13th-place finish the next day (Wednesday) in the 43-sailor fleet.
Races six and seven were to be raced yesterday.
Weightlifter Terrence Dixie was on the platform of the Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics Gymnasium last Friday to compete in the 85kg division.
Competing as an invitee, he finished with an Olympic total of 255kg (115 kg in snatch in his third attempt and 140kg in clean-and-jerk in his third attempt).
He was ranked 16th and last although lifters from Turkey, Belarus, Georgia, Venezuela and Armenia were not ranked as they failed to get an Olympic total after failing all their three attempts in one of the two events.
Chinese Lu Yong won the gold medal with his third and final clean-and-jerk attempt of 214kg for a total of 394kg after also snatching 180kg.
Yong matched the Olympic total of Andrei Rybakou of Armenia (185kg in snatch and 209kg in clean-and-jerk) but won the precious medal on the body weight rule as he weighed 0.28kg lighter.
Tigran Varban of Armenia took the bronze medal with a total of 380kg (177kg in snatch and 203kg in clean-and-jerk).
On the first day of track and field athletics at the National Stadium last Friday, local sprinter Danny D’Souza did not trouble his personal best of 10.80 seconds clocked during the eighth Lucozade Sport National Circuit at the Stade de Réduit in Mauritius on July 12.
Running in lane three of heat number five, the 20-year-old stopped the clock at 11.00 seconds for seventh place out of eight competitors.
Running in the same heat as D’Souza was American star Tyson Gay. In fact, he was in lane number two and finished with 10.22 seconds only to be eliminated in the semifinals after clocking 10.05 seconds for fifth place. Also in the same heat was Youssouf Mhadjoun of the Comoros and he clocked a personal best of 10.62 seconds.
D’Souza finished 65th overall out of 80 sprinters.
Jamaican world record holder Usain Bolt proved his worth with a world-record-breaking 9.69-second performance in the final to become the first sprinter to break the 9.7-second barrier without the assistance of a tailwind.
Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago finished second for the silver medal with 9.89 seconds, while American Walter Dix took the bronze in 9.91 seconds.
Former world record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica had a poor race in the final, finishing a distant fifth with 9.95 seconds.
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Seychellois in action in Beijing
Male Laser sailor Allan Julie – Laser sailing from August 12 to 19 at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre
Male canoeist Tony Lespoir – K1 1000m race on Monday August 18 and K1 500m on Tuesday August 19 at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park
Female javelin thrower Lindy Leveau-Agricole – javelin throw on Tuesday August 19 at the National Stadium
G. G.