Contact: Jill M. Geer
USATF Director of Communications
http://www.usatf.org
317-261-0500
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
Team USA wins four gold, two bronze at WUGs
BEIJING - A gold rush swept through Team USA Wednesday at the World
University Games, with American athletes winning four gold and two bronze
medals in track and field. Thirteen final events were contested on the day.
The performance of the day came from 3,000m steeplechaser Anthony
Famiglietti. As he had talked about doing earlier in the week, Famiglietti
took the lead virtually from the gun and ran in pursuit of a personal-best
time and gold medal. The 2001 U.S. outdoor runner-up held off several
challenges by Christian Belz of Switzerland, but with a lap to go, Jacub
Czaja of Poland easily took the lead.
On the backstretch, Famiglietti looked as though he would place no higher
than second or third. But Czaja stumbled over the final water jump - the same
fate he suffered at the European Under-23 championships - apparently giving
Famiglietti a burst of speed that overcame the 2-meter Gap Czaja had put on
him and vaulting Famiglietti to a win in 8:21.97. Famiglietti's time was just
a shade off his personal best of 8:21.00 and the WUGs record of 8:21.26, held
by American John Gregorek. Czaja was second in 8:23.00 and Belz was third in
8:24.46. Team USA's Steve Slattery was 10th in the 21-man field in 8:43.38.
"I was trying to break away with two or three laps to go," said the
Mohawk-sporting Famiglietti. "With a lap to go, the fact that he (Czaja) was
on my shoulder and was so strong altered my confidence. With 300 to go, I was
really battling more for second. It took the stimulus of him slipping over
the last barrier to snap me back into it."
Team USA's 400m runners completed an impressive three days of races, sweeping
the men's and women's titles. Demetria Washington held off a challenge from
the field in the homestretch to win the women's 400 in 51.22, with Romania's
Silvia Ruicu second in 51.82 and American Mikele Barber third in 51.92.
"I'm happy," Washington said. "I came here and PR'd (with a 51.05 in the
first round), and I PR'd in Edmonton (at the World Championships earlier this
month). I'm glad to be able to come here and compete. The Chinese people have
been great."
Barber also got out well but was nipped at the finish by Ruicu. "I felt
pretty relaxed," Barber said. "The last 50 meters I was tying up. I'm happy
with the bronze, but I would have preferred gold and silver (for the U.S.)."
Andrew Pierce won the men's 400 by an easy margin as well, finishing in
45.34. Clinton Hill of Australia was second in 45.63, and Team USA's Thomas
Gerding was eighth in 47.09. Gerding found out earlier in the day that he had
made the final as a result of a disqualification in Tuesday's semifinals.
Pierce's run concluded a long and successful season that included winning a
gold medal as part of the 4x400m relay at the World Championships in
Edmonton. In Beijing, he withstood four qualifying rounds and a competitive
season that began last winter. "This is the first time I ever had to run four
rounds," he said. "But I felt really good today. I was relaxed and stayed
nice and calm."
Also true to form was Miguel Pate in the men's long jump. Coming off a
fourth-place finish at the World Championships, Pate did not disappoint in
Beijing. His first jump of 8.07m/26-5.75 gave him the gold medal over Stephan
Louw of Namibia (8.04m/26-4.5). Kenta Bell finished sixth at 7.87m/25-10.
"I'm glad I got that first jump in," said Pate, who went from fifth at the
NCAA Championships to second at the U.S. Championships to WUGs gold. "The
(swirling) wind was giving me a lot of trouble on my approach. I'm happy to
get the gold."
Tora Harris had a strong day on the high jump apron, clearing 2.26m/7-5, just
1 cm off his personal best. Aiexei Krqvtsov of Russia won with a jump of
2.28/7-5.75, beating Henadzi Maroz of Belarus in a jump-off.
"I came in pretty confident," said Harris, whose mother is Taiwanese and who
speaks fluent Chinese. "Preliminaries didn't go well at all - my steps were
too close to the bar. Just a small adjustment (for the final) was all it
took."
Close calls marked the 1,500m races. Mary Jayne Harrelson, recovering from a
meniscus injury in her right knee suffered last month, moved from seventh to
fourth in the last lap of the women's race, running 4:11.68 to just miss a
medal. Janelle Deatherage set her second personal best of the Games with her
ninth-place time of 4:13.89. Sureyya Ayhan of Turkey won the gold in 4:06.91.
In the men's 1,500m, Michael Stember led at the start, then moved from ninth
to fourth in the last 200m in a kicker's race. Stember was timed in 3:44.91,
a dead heat with fifth-place Sergio Gallardo of Spain. Stember's teammate,
Jonathon Riley, was ninth in 3:46.37, and P.A. Esteso of Spain won in 3:43.98.
In Wednesday's other finals:
· Kim Kreiner finished fifth in the women's javelin with a throw of 55.18m
(181-0). Serene Ross was seventh for the U.S. at 51.21m/168-0. The gold went
to World Champion Osleidys Menendez of Cuba with a throw of 69.82m/229-1.
· Nick Petrucci was fifth (60.50m/198-6) and Jarred Rome placed eighth
(59.59/195-6) in the men's discus. Aleksander Tammert of Estonia won with a
throw of 65.19/213-10.
· Rebecca Holiday placed eighth in the women's pole vault with a clearance
of 4.0m/13-1.5. Tracy O'Hara had no mark. Gao Suying of China won the vault
at 4.52m/14-10.
· GiGi Miller finished ninth in the women's heptathlon with 5565 points,
posting marks on Wednesday of 5.58m/18-3.75 in the long jump (723 pts),
34.83m/114-3 in the javelin (568) and 2:30.40 in the 800m (688). Kimberly
Schiemenz finished with 4565 points through six events, with marks of
5.13m/16-0 (595 pts), 41.07m/134-8 (688). She was not feeling well and did
not compete in the 800m. Jane Jamieson of Australia won with 6041 points.
· Sean Albert was 16th for Team USA in 1:32:11 in the men's 20k walk, while
Al Heppner was disqualified. Italy's Lorenzo Civallero won in 1;24:42.
· American Sara Stevenson was disqualified in the women's 10k walk. Gao
Hongmiao of China won the race in a WUGs record of 43:20.
In Wednesday's qualifying rounds, men's shot putters Jamie Beyer and Reese
Hoffa advanced to Friday's final by throwing the fifth and sixth best marks,
respectively, in qualifying. Beyer hit the automatic mark of 19.00m/62-4, and
Hoffa threw 18.87m/61-11.
Both of Team USA's women's high jumpers also advanced to their final, to be
contested Friday. Erin Aldrich tied for the best mark of the day at
1.88m/6-2, and Carri Long cleared 1.85m/6-0.75 to make it through as well.
Krista Keir qualified for Thursday's final in the women's discus, throwing
53.08m/174-2 for the 11th-best mark in qualifying. Aubrey Schmidt threw
47.93m/157-3 for 17th and did not advance.
The men's 4x100m relay team of Josephus Howard, Gerald Williams, Josh Norman
and Kaaron Conwright ran 39.34 to finish fourth in their first-round race,
advancing to Saturday's final based on time. The women's team of Teeneshia
Jones, Jimyra Hicks, Tania Woods and Tonya Carter did not finish its heat
when Woods and Carter failed to complete the final handoff.
The men's 4x400m team of Geno White, Brandon Couts, Thomas Gerding and Andrew
Pierce won their heat to make Saturday's final (official times for the relays
were not immediately available). The women's 4x400 will be a straight final
on Saturday.
Final events scheduled for Thursday are the women's discus, men's pole vault,
men's shot put and women's hammer throw. Events with qualifying rounds are
the men's and women's 200m, men's and women's 400m hurdles, men's and women's
800m, men's 5,000m, men's javelin and men's triple jump. The men's heptathlon
also begins Thursday.
For complete Team USA coverage, visit http://www.usatf.org. For full results
from the World University Games, visit http://www.u21.org.cn.
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