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20km Farce once again reigned in Olympic walking. Bernard Segura of Mexico crossed the line first to an ecstatic reception from Mexican fans, but was disqualified 15 minutes later for 'lifting, ' the judges view being that both feet had lost contact with the ground on three separate occasions. Robert Korzeniowski of Poland was awarded gold by default with another Mexican, Noe Hernandez, taking silver. The bronze was given to Vladimir Andreyev of Russia. The women's event was even more absurd. Australian race-walker Jane Saville had her Olympic dream shattered in the cruellest circumstances when she was disqualified just 150m away from winning the gold medal in front of her home-town crowd. Saville was actually in the Stadium Australia tunnel with a winning advantage in the 20km walk when she was shown the red card for her third offence of 'lifting.' China's Wang Liping to won in one hour 29 minutes five seconds, having seen three walkers in front of her disqualified, Saville being the last. Norway's Kjersti Plaetzer was second (1:29.33) with Maria Vasco of Spain third (1:30.23). |
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50km Korzeniowski, who also won gold over the longer distance in Atlanta, made it an Olympic double. He overcame 90 percent humidity to break away from the field in the closing stages of the race. Aigars Fadejevs of Latvia won the silver medal and Joel Sanchez of Mexico got the bronze. Britain's Chris Maddocks, 43, finished an hour behind the winners after battling with injury, but his bravery earned him rapturous applause from the Australian crowd.
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