Greece Hails New 'Immortal' Heroine
Greece, shamed and angered by doping scandals involving their two top sprinters and a medal-winning weightlifter, hailed an unexpected new Olympic heroine yesterday in the form of a walker.
Providing the perfect morale-booster for the spiritual homeland of the Games, Athanasia Tsoumeleka won the gold in the women's 20-km walk after being spurred on to the Olympic Stadium finish line by deafening patriotic chants of "Hellas! Hellas!"
"I wanted the medal so much. I thank God," Tsoumeleka, a complete outsider, said after kissing the track in the stadium at the end of her stamina-sapping walk through Athens.
"It was the first time I competed with such a big crowd watching me. They gave me unbelievable strength," said the Greek walker, whose first name means immortality.
The Athens Games got off to a disastrous start for Greece when top sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou pulled out over missed drugs tests. Then weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis had his bronze medal taken away.
Greece was embroiled in another medal controversy Monday when Bulgaria appealed against the result of the Olympic gymnastics men's rings final, saying Jordan Jovtchev should have won the gold given to Greece's Dimosthenis Tampakos.
A Bulgarian team spokesman said Tampakos, whose narrow victory sparked rejoicing in the host nation, had been credited with too high a degree of difficulty scoring for his routine.
Athens has provided a host of memorable sporting moments to cherish. But the sleazy world of drugs has never been far from the headlines.
Sampanis, who lost his bronze medal after testing positive for high levels of testosterone, has vehemently protested his innocence, saying a drink he consumed after the competition but prior to the doping sample had been spiked.
A Greek prosecutor Monday launched an official investigation into the circumstances surrounding the positive dope test, while Greece's Olympic Committee said it would lodge an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Russia's anti-doping chief said the sporting superpower had done its best to learn lessons from the drugs shame that hit its Winter Olympics team two years ago but that Athens had turned into a doping "Hiroshima."
"We didn't want to repeat Salt Lake City but now we have a new Hiroshima," Nikolai Durmanov said after two Russian athletes, including shot put gold medallist Irina Korzhanenko, were thrown out of the Olympics for taking drugs.
China, who stand alongside the United States at the top of the medals table with 22 golds, faltered Monday in one of their all-time top sports when South Korean Ryu Seung-min stole the men's singles crown in the table tennis.
At the velodrome, Australia won their first men's Olympic team pursuit title in 20 years. They are fourth in the medals table with 13 golds, one place behind Japan.
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