Shot might not be the coolest event, but the competition was a thriller - the location was great, too. Anybody else watched it?:
ATHENS, 18 August - Ukraine’s Yuriy BILONOG claimed the gold medal at the Ancient Olympia Stadium on Wednesday, beating American Adam NELSON who had the same distance, but edging him by virtue of having a second best throw.
NELSON came to Ancient Olympia intent on improving on his silver medal performance from the Sydney Olympic Games.
On his first throw he recorded 21.16m in front of 18,000 people.
Through five rounds of competition it withstood the challenge of BILONOG by the slimmest of margins.
While NELSON conceded five consecutive fouls, BILONOG, the bronze medallist from the 2003 World Championships, threw 21.15m on the first
and second throws, 21.07m on his third before unleashing 21.16m in the sixth round.
Tied with the American he was given the gold medal by virtue of his second best throw.
The bronze medal went to Denmark’s Joachim OLSEN who threw 21.07m on his third throw.
The 27-year-old graduate of the University of Idaho also won a bronze at the 2004 world indoor championships last March in Budapest and a silver medal at the 2002 European championships.
The defending world champion, Andrey MIKHENEVICH (BLR) finished a disappointing 5th behind these three and Manuel MARTINEZ of Spain.
Another favourite, John GODINA (USA) duplicated his 9th place finish at last year’s world championships and left the stadium upset when he failed to make the final.
ONS pg/sad