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Wednesday, November 1, 2000
Russian, German Choppy conditions weren't all that made for a rough opening day in yesterday's inaugural Federation Internationale De Natation Amateur World Open Water Swimming Championships.
win ocean races
FINA Open Water
World ChampionshipsBy Ben Henry
Special to the Star-BulletinRussia and Germany captured gold medals in yesterday's 5-kilometer men's and women's races off Waikiki Beach in waters with 3- to 5-foot waves.
USA's Kalyn Keller finished second in the women's race. Hawaii's only participant in these championships, John Flanagan, finished eighth in the men's race.
Only four seconds separated the top finisher, Russia's Evgueni Bezroutchenko, from the fifth-place finisher, Germany's Cristof Wandratsch, in the men's race.
"All championships are not easy," Bezroutchenko said through an interpreter.
When second-place David Meca, from Spain, and third-place Luca Baldini, from Italy, came out of the water, they immediately exchanged words.
Bulgini said Meca was tailgating him and forcing him to alter his route in the final stretch."I'm happy for my race, I did my best," Bulgini said. "But I'm very sad for what has happened with (Meca). He swam 800 meters on my feet."
Meca offered a different account.
"He says I am the one who did it, I say he is the one who did it," Meca said. "In the end, I almost crashed into (the floating device on the finish board) because he was pushing me to that side. And even with that, he said I didn't let him swim. Come on, he had all that room. He pushed me, and I didn't even want to hurt him. But competition is competition."
Both say what happened didn't affect the final outcome.
"(Meca) made it very difficult," Bulgini said. "But the Russian (Bezroutchenko) won because he made a very good race, and I'm happy for him."
Said Meca: "For me (the finish) is fair. But I don't do tricks; I don't go swim to hurt anybody. But some people think this sport is (about) hurting people."
The women's race was not as heated, and Germany's Peggy Bucshe beat Keller by 4 seconds."I am very pleased and surprised that I won," said Bucshe, who finished second in the 25K and third in the 5K in 1998. "I was thinking to win a medal, but not the first position. They are very strong women, and I expected it to be close."
She is scheduled to swim in tomorrow's 10K.
Keller, from Phoenix, Ariz., was Team USA's only medalist.
"I was last in the first pack (of about a dozen swimmers), then I started going fast. I didn't expect it to be that easy to pull away from everyone," she said. "It's really special to be one of the first medalists in the first (championship race of this event)."
It is the first time open water swimming, which is being considered for the 2004 Olympic Games, has been showcased with its own world championship. In previous years, open water world championships were grouped with other FINA water events.
Flanagan, of Hawaii Kai, duplicated his eighth-place finish two years ago.
"I'm a little disappointed I didn't medal," he said. "I waited a little too long before making a move. By the time I saw that yellow buoy, it was a little too late."
He said that while the waves made for a challenging swim, the biggest obstacle wasn't a natural one.
A helicopter, which carried a camera crew from Bud Sports, hovered over the finish board as the first sets of finishers came in.
"Probably the most choppy it got was when the helicopter was right above us, it was blowing it right on us," Flanagan said.
The championships continue tomorrow with the 10K and conclude Saturday with the 25K.