TRACK ROUNDUP

updated 10:18 a.m. ET Aug. 22, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - Stacy Dragila failed to make it out of pole vault qualifying Saturday, a shocking disappointment for the medal favorite and former world record holder.

Dragila, who won the vault when it debuted as a women’s event at the 2000 Olympics, missed three attempts at 14 feet, 5¼ inches, well below her best of 15 feet, 10 inches.

After her third miss, she shook her head in dismay and seemed to be stunned. Then she slowly packed up her gear, put on a cap and headed off the field.

“This is something I should be able to do in my sleep,” she said later, between sobs.

Her shocking elimination was a blow to U.S. hopes of surpassing its total of 20 medals from the 2000 Games. It came three days after a disappointment in the men’s shot put, in which the U.S. squad hoped for a sweep but ended up with only Adam Nelson’s silver medal.

Kluft wins Heptathlon
European champion in 2002, world champion in 2003 and now Olympic champion in 2004.

Sweden’s 21-year-old Carolina Kluft lived up to her superstar billing Saturday by winning the heptathlon gold medal in dominant fashion.

Abba’s “Dancing Queen” blared from the loudspeakers as Kluft did a victory lap around the 70,000-seat Olympic stadium. She was mobbed by Swedish fans and received a warm hug from Swedish IOC member Gunilla Lindberg, who put the gold medal around her neck.

“I’m the type of person who needs to have fun to perform well,” a beaming Kluft said. “It’s the feeling inside that allows me to perform well. I love to compete, but it has to be fun.”

Kluft came within 48 points of becoming only the second athlete to break the 7,000-point barrier in the Olympics, finishing with 6,952.

The only heptathlete to break the 7,000 mark at the Olympics was Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who achieved the feat in 1988 in Seoul and 1992 in Barcelona. Joyner-Kersee’s world record is 7,291, set in Seoul.

Kluft finished the seven events with a huge 517-point advantage over 25-year-old Austra Skujyte of Lithuania, who had a personal-best 6,435 points to become the first woman from the former Baltic republic to win an Olympic medal. Britain’s Kelly Sotherton got the bronze with 6,424.

“It’s been great,” Kluft said. “The girls, the audience, the atmosphere. Only the heat was a bit of a problem.”

Defending Olympic champion Denise Lewis of Britain pulled out before the final two events. She only recently returned to competition after an ankle injury and had dropped to 18th after the long jump.

Kluft, who came in as the overwhelming favorite, hasn’t lost a heptathlon in three years. She scored 7,001 points at the worlds in Paris last year, the third highest total in history.

Kluft has the talent, the charisma and the photogenic looks to be one of track and field’s top personalities for years to come.

“I’m not a star yet,” she said. “I’m just a little girl. I never think of winning or scoring a certain amount of points. I’m there to have fun.”

Kluft, who held a 240-point lead after Friday’s first four events, finished first in Saturday’s opening long jump with a jump of 6.78 meters. In the penultimate event, she was fifth in the javelin with a throw of 48.89 meters, nearly 2 meters under her personal best, spoiling her hopes of breaking 7,000 points.

Kluft entered the final event, the 800 meters, with 6,047 points, 492 ahead of Skujyte, and needed only to finish the two-lap race to complete the victory.

Kluft still ran hard and clocked 2 minutes, 14.15 seconds, covering her face with her hands and laying on her back on the track in relief and exhaustion. Her time gave her 905 points, but not quite enough for 7,000. Sotherton set a fast pace to try to overtake Skujyte for the silver, but her time of 2:12.27 fell just short.

“It’s incredible, I can’t believe it,” Skujyte said. “I did not consider a silver as a possibility.”

Three U.S. runners advance
Three United States athletes qualified for the 400-meter finals Saturday.

Jeremy Wariner and Derrick Brew of the United States each won semifinal heats, while Otis Harris slowed at the end and finished second in his heat.

Wariner paced the first semifinal with the fastest time of the day at 44.87 seconds. Brew led the way in the second race at 45.05. Harris finished just 0.02 seconds behind Jamaica's Brandon Simpson with a time of 44.99 in the third run.

Sadova wins discus gold
Natalya Sadova of Russia won the gold medal Saturday in the discus with a throw of 67.02 meters.

Anastasia Kelesidou of Greece won the silver. Irina Yatchenko of Belarus took the bronze.

Pittman returns
Thirteen days after undergoing knee surgery, world champion Jana Pittman made a remarkable comeback Saturday morning by winning her preliminary heat of the women’s 400-meter hurdles.

The Australian, who tore cartilage in her right knee while warming up for a race and quickly had arthroscopic surgery in hopes of running in Athens, won her heat in 54.83 seconds. The best time of the first round was 53.57 by Yuliya Pechonkina of Russia.

“I was really nervous. I did not know if my knee was going to hold up,” Pittman said. “I thought I loved this sport, but you don’t know how much you love something until you have it taken away.”

Also advancing to Sunday’s semifinals were all three Americans — Sheena Johnson, Lashinda Demus and Brenda Taylor. They placed second in their heats, automatically qualifying for the next round.

Guevara wins
In the women’s 400, gold-medal contender Ana Guevara of Mexico slowed so much in the final meters that she had to speed back up momentarily when she saw competitors catching up. She won her first-round heat in 50.93.

Guevara, the reigning world champion, was joined in the semifinals by Americans Monique Hennagan, DeeDee Trotter and Sanya Richards. The time of 50.11 by Richards was the fastest of the qualifying round.

Bekele wins 10,000
Kenenisa Bekele used a breathtaking final 400 meters late Friday night to claim the Olympic 10,000-meter throne previously occupied by his Ethiopian countryman, Haile Gebrselassie.

The soft-spoken 22-year-old champion is not finished in Athens. He will be the favorite again in the 5,000 meters, attempting to become the fifth man — and first in 24 years — to achieve the Olympic distance-running double.

“Yes, I think so,” Bekele said with a smile when asked if he had anything left for his second race.

Gebrselassie, who sought his third consecutive Olympic title in the event, finished in a painful fifth place, nearly dropping out because of an Achilles tendon injury. He had said it would be his final race on the track; the 31-year-old will now turn his attention to the marathon.

He left the 10,000 in good hands. With a jaw-dropping 53.02-second final lap, Bekele won in 27 minutes, 5.10 seconds, breaking Gebreselassie’s Olympic record by more than two seconds.

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