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Cuban and Japanese fans, together, at the semifinal of the baseball tournament, at Hellinikon Olympic Complex.
The Good...
A new Olympic record was set, at the men's pole vault by American Timothy Mack with 5.95, and a world record was equalled, by China's Xiang Liu with 12.91 in the men's 110 meters hurdles.
Italy will play in both the men's volleyball and the men's basketball final, after the Squadre Azzure disposed of Russia and Lithuania, respectively, in yesterday's semifinals.
The Bad...
A group of about two thousand anarchists tried to march to the US Embassy in Athens, last night, to protest the planned arrival of US Secretary of State and the continued US presence in Iraq. The police met them with batons and tear gas and a melee ensued. Glass windows were broken and tear gas canisters fired. It was not a pretty sight in downtown Athens for a couple of hours.
And the Weird...
See below.
nyloo's daily Olympic Diary
Just two items from yesterday's news wires, without comment:
Firstly, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder declared that the Olympic medals awarded in equestrian's three-day eventing competition are worthless. Germany lost two gold medals in the event when France, Britain and the United States won an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
"If I were a Frenchman or American I would ask myself whether it is worth wearing a gold medal that was not won through achievement but through interpreting the rules, and in a dubious way to boot," Schroeder reportedly told a German TV station.
The Court of Arbitration ruled that German rider Bettina Hoy should have suffered time penalties in last week's show-jumping final, costing her the individual gold and Germany the team title. After the decision, France moved to first place, Britain remained second and the United States won bronze.
Then, the latest episode of the gymnastics fiasco. International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) officials asked Paul Hamm to give up his gold medal as the ultimate show of sportsmanship. The U.S. Olympic Committee turned them down flat and, in a letter, indicated that they should take responsibility for their own mistakes.
The head of the International Gymnastics Federation suggested in a letter to Hamm that giving the all-around gold medal to South Korea's Yang Tae-young "would be recognized as the ultimate demonstration of fair play by the whole world."
FIG president Bruno Grandi tried to send the letter Thursday night to Hamm through the USOC, but the USOC refused to deliver it. In a letter back to Grandi, USOC secretary general Jim Scherr called the request "a blatant and inappropriate attempt on the part of (FIG) to once again shift responsibility for its own mistakes and instead pressure Mr. Hamm into resolving what has become an embarrassing situation for your federation."
