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| Tuesday, 31 August 2004 |
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Cooray a good show Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Greece, ATHENS, Monday - Soldier Anuradha Indrajith Cooray emerged one of the most successful Sri Lankan long distance runners in the Olympic Games history when he finished 30th out of 113 competitors at the XXV111th Olympiad men's marathon worked off last night. Cooray not only had the privilege of running in the historic marathon route, used for the first ever marathon at the inauguration of the modern Olympics here in 1896, but also came out with a relatively impressive timing of two hours, 19 minutes and 24 seconds. He came eight minutes and 29 seconds behind the Italian gold medallist Stefano Baldini (2:10.55). Baldini withstood the 30-degree Celsius heat and a very difficult course to emerge victorious after a keenly contested tussle. The Italian covered ten kilometres between 30 to 40, which is predominantly downhill, in a staggering 28:59 to break the field and solidify his first major title. A proven championship performer, he also has two World championship bronze medals to his credit. A large Italian contingent greeted Baldini as he entered the Panathinaiko Stadium, the venue for the inaugural 1896 Olympics, which had the finish. Coming in second place was American Meb Keflezighi (2:11.29), who bagged a surprise silver medal while Brazilian Venderlei De Lima took the bronze in 2:12.11. It was in the second half of the race that Lankan long distance champion really made his advance. He was in the 71st place after the first 5km and then advanced to 63rd place as he took 32.05 to complete the first 10km. He made a good progress in the next five kilometres - advancing from 63rd to 53rd by 15km mark. Cooray was placed 51st with 1:08.45 at the halfway mark. The second half was a real test for all runners as they tried to make use of their stamina in the reserve tanks. Cooray came to 42nd place in 30km mark and then to 34th after 35km. He took 2;12.16 to be placed 31st by the 40km mark. In contrast, gold medallist Baldini was only 24th after the first 10km but came to second place behind the Brazilian by the halfway mark. After being placed 35th in the 5km mark, Lima took the lead by the ten kilometre mark. Then he maintained his No. 1 position in the race until the 35km mark. The American silver medallist was only 24th at the halfway mark of the race but then powered his way to be the fifth after the next 12 km. Sri Lanka's champion long distance runner Cooray said he is happy with the outcome. "It was not an easy route and the hot temperature did not let the runners to have their own way. In such circumstance, I managed to be 30th and I am happy with the outcome," Cooray said after the race. He said better results could come with his experience. "It is important that we run in a few good races, that's where you gain experience. With that, I should be able to do even better," he said. Sri Lanka national coach, Lakshman de Alwis commended the performance of his lad. "Cooray fared well under hot conditions, he was placed fifth among Asians behind two Japanese and two Koreans. That's a positive sign," De Alwis said at the Panathinaiko Stadium after the race. He added that Cooray's placing was the best ever by a Sri Lankan in the Olympic Games history. "Five others from Sri Lanka have competed at the Olympic marathons before. They are I. C. Dias (Rome), Wimalasena (Mexico), V. K. L. Samarasinghe (Seoul), K. A. Karunaratne (Barcelona) and Sarath Gamage (Sydney). But none of them have secured a place higher than Cooray, whose timing too is the best amongst all. I feel that this is a victory for Sri Lanka," the Lankan coach said. Sri Lanka's chef de Mission, Joseph Kenny too commended the performance of Cooray and thanked Sri Lankan domiciled in Greece for their support. "Sri Lankans here were in their numbers to cheer Cooray. They organized as groups in every five kilometers to cheer our boy. It was nice to see they waving Lion flags and cheering Cooray. That was certainly an inspiration," he said. |
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