Netherlander van der Weijden wins men's 10-km marathon gold
21/8/2008 17:50
Today's men's 10-kilometer marathon swimming was full of dramas as
Dutchman Maarten van der Meijden made a last minute dash to take the gold from
Briton David Davis and three-time world champion Russia's Vladimir Dyatchin was
disqualified from the race at the last lap.
Davies, who had led the race
during the most part of the two-hour grueling race, seemed to have secured his
win in the last 100 meters before van der Meijden sprinted from his side to
touch first.
Van der Meijden won in one hour 51 minutes and 51.6 seconds, 1.5
seconds ahead of Davies. German veteran Thomas Lurz won bronze in
1:51:53.6.
Van der Meijden, diagnosed with leukemia in 2001, brought Dutchmen
to tears with his heroic victory and they carried him on arms for
celebration.
Starting swimming at seven, Van der Meijden was regarded as a
great swimming talent. He took part at the European Youth Championships in 1999
and the Open Water World Championships in 2000. But his swimming career seemed
to have to come to a sudden end in 2001 after being diagnosed with
leukemia.
After a stem cell transplant, van der Meijden gradually recovered
and made a comeback at the 2003 and 2004 Open Water World Championships where he
swam faster than before the disease. In the 2008 World Championships, he won a
gold in the 25-km race, a bronze in the 5-km race and ranked fourth in
10-km.
Van der Meijden said his past disease has taught him well in swimming.
"It taught me to think step by step and to be patient. When you are in so much
pain and lying in a hospital bed, you aren't thinking about the next month, but
the next hour. This is the same strategy I used in Beijing -- staying in the
pack and waiting for my chance."
The Dutch swimmer also thanked people who
contributed to the cancer research. "Seven-and-a-half years ago I was fighting
leukemia. Because of the stem cell transplant I got I had the luck to recover.
So everyone who has donated money (to cancer research) in the past I am
grateful, for as maybe I wouldn't be here otherwise."
Despite being denied of
the gold chance, British Davies expressed his complement to Van der
Meijden.
"It (his story) is kind of like a Lance Armstrong story. He is a
great gentlemen and a great ambassador of the sport. His story is amazing and
can inspire a lot of people, especially me. I am proud to race with him and
happy for his achievement. It's phenomenal," he said.
Having won a bronze
medal in 1,500-meter freestyle in Athens, Davies said the fight to get the
silver in the men's 10-km was a lot harder.
"This is only my third (open
water) race. I always knew I would be a novice in tactics. The last 800 my body
had given everything and I was on a sugar low. My head was all over the place, I
was swimming zig-zags and didn't know what was going on," he said.
Davies
also competed in the men's 1,500-meter four days ago and ranked 6th. "To have
two Olympic medals in two different Games and two different sports, I am so very
proud and humble about what I have done. I know how hard it is to get to an
Olympic podium," he said.
Germany's Lurz, 2006 world champion, seemed not
completely happy with a bronze medal.
"The race was extremely hard as
everyone is extremely fit," he said. "It was 700m before the end that I had to
battle with the group. This lost me a lot of strength and the
silver."
Russia's Dyatchin, who was seen as a top gold favorite as reigning
world championship, was disqualified after receiving a red flap in the last
lap.
"I got a yellow card and a red card during the race. It's my first time
to get two cards in my sporting career," he said. "I struggled in the water with
a lot of athletes around me. I didn't want to push them."
The open-water
event is slated to the 2008 Olympic Games for the first time. It is also
referred to as a "wrestling match in water" due to the aggressive techniques
employed in competing in the sport. Competitors often knock into each other as
they fight for position around the marker buoys and at the feeding
stations.
In yesterday's women's 10km marathon, Russia's Larisa Ilchenko won
gold and British swimmers Keri-Anne Payne and Cassandra Patten ranked second and
third.
Xinhua
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