The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 12

DIVING smh.com.au Saturday, September 23, 2000 Diehards put a miracle together out of courage Frenchman adds name to history I ,1 i. 12 he ajbnrjj Pornin $fralb WATER POLO JUDO FOOTBALL 1 JUDO i 1 1 met: Australian water polo had experienced its most celebrated victory a moment that could, of course, be eclipsed if the Australians win tonight's final before 17,000 and millions of television viewers at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre. Gusterson's goal had followed a terrible passing error that might have cost her team everything. "Anyone can make a said. "But she was able to win the game after making the mistake.

I think that's the biggest virtue a player can have." The two goals that preceded the skipper's were no less important. The hosts had been through a long stint in which they had struggled to score before veteran Debbie Watson reduced Russia's seemingly unassailable lead (6-4) by one. The next score was, in Gorgenyi's mind, the turning point. With 90 seconds to play, the score was still 6-5 in Russia's favour and the odds still decidedly against Australia. As the 35-second shot clock nearly expired, Naomi- Castle unloaded a slightly desperate long bomb that found the net.

It was significant that the three final scorers were among the experienced players, with an aggregate of 650 international matches. "That's what makes a winning team," Gorgenyi said. "When the senior players, in critical moments, can take the critical decisions successfully." The Australians had trailed 4-3 at half-time after struggling at both ends of the pool. They muffed several scoring opportunities -converting only three of nine shots. Gorgenyi thought they were suffering from big-game nerves.

By the middle of the game it was clear the Aussies would have to scrap and struggle if they were to fulfil their dream. While everyone expected the favourites to rally, the longer the match went, it became clearer the Russians were in control and that it would require something special for the Australians to escape. In the end, what they needed, they found. WATER POLO WOMEN'S SEMI-FINALS Jake Niall There was only one word for what happened at Ryde yesterday. The Hungarian-born coach of the Australian women's water polo team, Istvan Gorgenyi, can struggle with the English language but he found the right noun.

"The girls made a miracle happen with their hearts," he said. The result, a 7-6 win to Australia, was not the miraculous part. Australia had been expected to beat Russia in the semi-final and a defeat, in fact, would have constituted a disastrous upset. It was the spot the Australians found themselves in, and the way they extricated themselves, that made one wonder if the water in the Ryde pool had Lourdes-like powers. The Australians, their skills stunted by stage fright, played poorly for most of the match and, with a little under five minutes left, still trailed 6-4.

As almost 4000 people, including the realistic Gorgenyi, braced themselves for an ugly defeat, they scored three late goals, with two spectacular scores in the final 90 seconds, to steal the match and a berth in the final against the US. The Americans beat the Netherlands 6-5 last night in the other semi-final. Just as it seemed preordained that it was Andrew Gaze who sank the Russians with a three-pointer on Thursday night, the winner yesterday could only have been scored by Brigette Gusterson, the Australian skipper and arguably the best female player on the planet. It was 6-6, with only 43 seconds remaining, when the ball was passed to Gusterson. She had her back to the goal when, with the champion's skill and presence of mind, she scooped the ball with her right hand over her shoulder and past the surprised Russian keeper.

The Australians repelled Russia's final bid to level and were in possession when time expired. 9r 5t Russia in water polo. her teammate and synchronised diving partner, Loudy Tourky, succumbed to Olympic nerves and crashed out of contention in 24th place. Val Beddoe, the Australian team manager, said she was surprised by Tourlcs performance. "All I can say is that she must have been very nervous," she said.

"She is far, far better than she performed out there today." Gilmore, despite missing her first dive, came back to consolidate her place in the semi-final. "It was a bit of a slow start but I partly expected it," she said. "Fve had a bit of trouble with that dive in training. But I got it back with my second dive." A. Chinese team official de Naomi Castle and Joanne Fox celebrate Australia's 7-6 triumph against Chinese 'so-so' as nerves sink Tourky Karen Lyon and Richard Wood Frenchman David Douillet added his name to the history books last night, becoming the second man to win medals in three Olympic Games.

By taking out the gold medal in the heavyweight division, Douillet joins his countryman Angelo Parisi in an exclusive title. Douillet is the defending champion, but his victory over Japan's world champion Shinichi Shino-hara is an upset. Shinohara won two world championships last year, the heavyweight and open titles and was favourite here. It is almost fitting that at a tournament that will be remembered for the large number of upsets, two more would occur on the final night. The Cuban woman Daima Beltran was expected to add a gold medal to the one she claimed at the world championships last year, but she could not defeat Hua Yuan of China.

For Australian heavyweights, defeat was swift. Robert Ball's Olympic experience lasted just six seconds, judo's shortest bout these Games. Before he could even settle his footwork, Ball found himself flying through the air and out of the competition. "I have never fought him before, my mind just wasn't on the job and that was it," said Ball. "He premeditated it, he went for it and he threw it right it just wasn't my day." These were big men of more than 100 kilograms and they fell hard.

Ball could only shake his head in disbelief as he left the arena. For Australia's other entrant on the day, Caroline Curren, her loss to Beltran could not hide her joy at participating at an Olympic Games. "She Beltran is strong, very strong. Every time I would try something she just wouldn't move," she said after the bout. Curren, 38, had been lured out of retirement to participate in these Games.

Me defence quality players. I would rate quality players. I would rate them more highly, he said. The Nigerians admit to knowing little about the opposition, whose coach, Nelson Acosta, yesterday confirmed that Inter Milan striker Zamorano, who missed the 1-0 defeat against South Korea on Wednesday because of a calf strain, would lead the team tonight. Chile have already matched their performance target by making the last eight.

Acosta says Chile are hungry for success, even though six players have their eye on an upcoming World Cup qualifier against Ecuador. "From now until tonight we are 100 per cent focussed on Nigeria," he said. Brazil, on the other hand, have skilful offensive midfielder Edu on suspension after he received his second yellow card against Japan during the week, and have been struggling to find their best form. Who will replace Edu is a topic of much discussion among the press, but coach Wanderiey Luxemburgo is remaining tight-lipped. SCORES Sami-final 1: Australia 7 Russia 6.

Semi-final 2: USA 6 Netherlands 5 Play-off for fifth: Canada 9 Kazakhstan 8 MEN'S QUARTERFINALS TONIGHT, 8pm (Sydney time) Italy Spain, SFS Chile Nigeria. MCG USA Japan. Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide Brazil Cameroon. Gabba, Brisbane WOMEN'S SEMI-FINALS TOMORROW, 5.30pm Germany Norway, SFS USA Brazil. Bruce Stadium, Canberra No Photo: Orlando Chiodo scribed the preliminary rounds from Li Na, a World Cup champion, and Sang Xue as "just so-so, not good and not He expected the main competition to come from the Canadians Anne Montminy and Emilie Heymans, who qualified third and fourth for the semifinals.

The Chinese pair will dive off the platform together in the synchronised event. The top 12 will go through to tomorrow night's platform final. Australia has six divers who are intent on winning the country's first diving medal in 76 years. In the past two years, the Australian team have emerged as the world's No 3 diving nation behind China and Russia. Chile capital city.

While the Nigerians, with their fast, fluid and athletic style, will back themselves to outscore any opposition, what must be a concern is that they conceded six goals in three group matches. The Africans will also need to show they have player strength in depth, as Chelsea defender Celes-tine Babayaro is suspended after being sent off against Australia. Nigerian assistant coach Lawrence Akpokona yesterday suggested that this Nigeria side were not as good as the gold medal winners from Atlanta. "I would say that the 1996 team was more talented and had more quarter given as Italy, Spain clash I -w JL Defence key t0 Nieria's pun lr MlftCDlA hall with Santiago Wanderers in CHILE NIGERIA The waters were strangely still at the Aquatic Centre yesterday afternoon. They were not chopped up by swimmers intent on getting to the other end of the pool in a hurry, just periodically pierced and rippled by the small, lithe bodies that pitched themselves off the 10-metre platform and hit the water at about 6okmh.

It was the first round of the diving, the preliminaries of the women's tower event wedged between the morning's swimming heats and the evening's finals. There was the odd painful-looking smack into the water and the odd shaky handstand, but two 16-year-old Chinese divers, Sang Xue and Li Na, distinguished themselves im- If a sold-out match is to live up to expectations, the onus is on the respective playmakers, Italy's Andrea Pirlo and Spain's Xavi to perform. Unfortunately Pirlo is under an injury cloud, as is teammate Gianluca Zambrotta. Xavi, in particular, has been a major disappointment, with his mind perhaps distracted by the chequered progress of his club side, Barcelona, in the Champions League. Spain and Italy managed to avoid each other during the European qualifying phase, with the Italians finishing on top and Spain sneaking into the Olympics as the third-placed team.

On paper, however, the Italians the bookmakers' favourites for the gold medal have a nominal advantage. While Tardelli has largely been able to pick his best players because of the postponement of Serie his Spanish counterpart, Inaki Saez, has had to battle hard to get the release of several key players. The Spanish Primera Liga is already in full swing, and up to 10 players, among them Real Madrid goalkeeper Ilker Casillas, preferred to concentrate on club duties rather than play in the Olympics. Jonathan Cook reports: The DIVING WOMEN'S 10m PRELIMINARIES Chloe Saltau mediately. They and second to progressed first the semi-finals tomorrow morning.

Australia's Rebecca Gilmore finished comfortably inside the top 18 to go through to the next stage. But United States are pushing to- go even further into the nation's football history books. And Japan are chasing the medal which coach Philippe Troussier had targeted even before a ball had been kicked in this tournament. One of those dreams will be in tatters by the end of the quarterfinal at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide tonight. Give Charles's United States have already travelled further in this Olympic tournament than any other US team and, with the possibility of picking up a medal almost within reach, the team are aiming for further success, at Japan's expense.

"The guys know they've made a little bit of history and now we are just going to play and see how far we can go," Charles said. "We have a good team and we've felt all along that we could compete. We just came over here to try and play well, and I think we've done that." Japan's 1-0 loss to Brazil, a score that could have blown out embarrassingly, was inflicted without playmaker Hidetoshi Nakata and defender Ryuzo Morioka, who were suspended. There is little doubt Troussier will rush the pair back into the team. Michael Lynch The pyrotechnics on the pitch could rival the noise and party atmosphere on the terraces when the two highest-scoring teams of the first phase of the football tournament, Chile and Nigeria, clash in a sudden-death quarter-final in front of an expected crowd of more than 50,000 at the MCG tonight.

If Nigeria are to go on with the defence of their Olympic title, they will have to tighten a leaky defence and work hard to shackle Chile's dangerous front pair, the veteran Italian-based Ivan Zamorano and Reinaldo Navia, the pacy and skilful striker who plays his club foot It's Milla time BRAZIL CAMEROON Keith Austin The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon go into tonight's fray against Brazil at the Gabba with a secret weapon on their side the presence of the much revered African Player of the Century, Roger Milla. Team media liaison Achilles opening game, with all the goals scored in the first 30 minutes. But they lost their next game convincingly against Chile, and had to grind out a result in their final match against the plucky Moroccans. Certainly the sort of adventurous, attacking play which the Australian public had hoped to see has failed to materialise. In its place has been a gritty, physical approach, marred by ill-discipline.

Italy have received 10 yellow cards in their three games to date. Only Nigeria have a worse disciplinary record. Spanish players have earned six yellow cards and one red. It is no surprise that both teams go into the game tonight with a player suspended in the case of Italy their stand-in captain Roberto Baronio, and for Spain their reserve goalkeeper Felip, who came off the bench to join a melee in the final minutes against Morocco, and was promptly sent off. Italy at least can welcome back two key players from suspension, regular skipper Alessandro Grandoni and wide midfielder Gennaro Gattuso.

Spain will welcome back Athletic Bilbao defender Lacruz after his one-match ban. FOOTBALL MEN'S QUARTER-FINALS Michael Cockerill It may not be a game for the purists, but the' quarter-final between' Spain and Italy at the Sydney Football Stadium tonight carries the weight of history and tradition. Two of the biggest powers in world football collide in a match likely to be suffocated by pressure and anxiety. Both Spain (1992) and Italy (1936) are previous gold medallists, and are among the few European nations to treat the Olympics seriously. The Italians have even postponed the start of their domestic competition, Serie so that coach Marco Tardelli could prepare his team without distraction.

Yet despite being blessed with some of the most exciting young players in the world, neither side have impressed during the tournament so far. The Italians were fortunate to win their opening game against Australia, and were held to a draw by 10-man Nigeria in their final group game in Adelaide. Spain set themselves up with a 3-0 win over South Korea in their for Cameroon's campaign Onana said Milla whose spectacular World Cup goals 10 years ago made him a legend in his home country would be a great boost to the Cameroon side. Not that they need much help; unlike Brazil, they remain unbeaten in this competition and European-based players such as Samuel Etoo, Lauren Etame Mayer and Patrick Mboma are playing superbly. 1 I --illl.