Sergey wins men’s 50km race walk

Dinesh WEERAWANSA reporting from England

LONDON, Aug. 11 - Russian Sergey Kirdyapkin bagged the gold medal in the men’s 50km race walk of the XXXth Olympic Games here with a new Olympic record today.

The ex-world champion clocked three hours, 35 minutes and 59 seconds - almost a minute clear of Australian Jared Tallent, who took silver for the second Games in succession, with China’s Si Tianfeng claiming bronze. Ireland’s Robert Heffernan was fourth in a national record of 3:37.54, just holding off Russia’s Igor Erokhin on the line as both athletes were given the same time.

Si looked well set for victory when he wiped out a 20-second deficit and went clear of the field at the 35km mark, but when he faded Kirdyapkin took over at the front and was never in danger of being caught.

With the 204-nation Games due to end tomorrow with a spectacular closing ceremony, Olympic swimming arena saw the exit of arguably the greatest Olympian in history as Michael Phelps bowed out of the sport having collected 18 gold medals and 22 overall When the London 2012 swimming competition ended, Phelps bowed out of the sport in style with a record that would be hard to emulate.

USA-Spain cager final today

Meanwhile, USA qualified to meet Spain in the men’s basketball final for gold medal on Sunday in a re-match of the Beijing 2008 Olympic final after dispatching Argentina 109-83. In similar fashion to the group-stage meeting, the USA wore down the Argentinians in the second half before pulling away for a big win.

Enjoying the services of five members of their 2004 Games gold medal winning team, Argentina kept pace until midway through the third quarter when LeBron James and Kevin Durant powered an American spurt that effectively killed off the game, and they piled on the points down the stretch. Kobe Bryant picked up where he had left off in his 20-point second-half haul against Australia, scoring 11 points over four-and-a-half first-quarter minutes to power the USA into an 18-6 lead. Argentina replied with nine straight, bringing it back to 18-15 on a three-pointer from Andres Nocioni. The USA led 24-19 at the end of the first quarter but Luis Scola quickly cut the gap and Carlos Delfino began raining in threes to keep it close. That was James’ cue to go off for a stunning seven points in 79 seconds to hand the USA a double-digit lead, 37-27.

USA men burst into life with a 13-2 run that saw Durant score six and James seven, putting them 72-53 up and effectively out of sight. The game was over, and the Americans then started making it look easy with Carmelo Anthony shooting in three quick threes to put them 93-64 up. They broke the 100-point barrier for the fifth time in their seven Olympic contests so far when James Harden hit a three with 2:52 left in the game.

Durant led the USA points feast with 19 points while James and Anthony had 18 each, James also collecting seven rebounds and seven assists. Bryant added only two to his early haul to finish with 13 points, while Paul finished with 10. Ginobili was outstanding for Argentina with 18 points, while Scola and Delfino added 15 apiece.

South Korea wins fotball bronze

South Korea had a superb two goals to nil win over arch rivals Japan to win the bronze medal of men’s football tournament in an all-Asian third place play-off played at Millennium Stadium last night.

Hong Myung Bo hailed his Republic of Korea ‘dream team’ after watching them heading for a memorable win. Goals from Arsenal’s Park Chuyoung and captain Koo Jacheol sealed their first ever football medal at Olympic Games. That further enhanced Hong’s reputation having captained the men’s national side to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup.

His Olympic Games squad are being viewed as a golden generation of Korean footballers, and the coach said: ‘I think I have achieved my goal in every aspect. ‘We started at a lower level when you compare us to other players and groups. But I believe we have been one of the best at the Olympics and to be called a dream team, I am very proud of that.’

Japan coach Takashi Sekizuka felt Republic of Korea’s clinical finishing had been the difference in a game of few chances. “The decisive point was that it was really difficult to break the Korean defensive line.

We had good chances from set-pieces but we were not able to take them. We kept pushing but we were not able to take these chances and they were able to take theirs,” he said.