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Commonwealth Games
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COMMONWEALTH
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Heroes who stood out at the Commonwealth Games
KUALA LUMPUR (AP) -- With the big stars missing from the Commonwealth Games, many wondered if the tournament was worth the trouble. For these athletes who excelled for themselves and their countries it was. For the fans who watched them it was too.TRACK: He won the 100-metre dash in 9.88 seconds. Then the show started.
Sprinter Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago preened and posed before a stadium crowd of 37,000. He kneeled with his head bowed, waggled his hips and raising his arms with palms open to the sky, as if to say, "Raise the roof."
The brash 24-year-old, who boasts the aura of a rock star, was perhaps the biggest celebrity at the Commonwealth Games, lending the event some much-needed flair.
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SWIMMING: Susie O'Neill of Australia became the greatest swimmer in Commonwealth Games history when she won her 10th gold medal.
The Olympic and world champion added to her stash of four Commonwealth gold medals with another six at this year's games. She also won two silvers.
O'Neill is 25 and will retire after the Sydney Olympics.
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Another Australian swimming star, Ian Thorpe, is only 15 years old but he had little trouble picking up four golds.
Along with Michael Klim, Daniel Kowalski and Matt Dunn, the teenager broke the world record in the 4x200-metre team with a time of seven minutes 11.86 seconds.
"You can't believe he's 15. It's genetics gone bloody crazy," national swim coach Don Talbot gushed.
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DIVING: When his final marks flashed on the scoreboard, and gold was his, Canada's Alexandre Despatie burst into tears.
Just 13 years old, the diving prodigy from Laval, Que., won the gold medal in the men's platform event.
Despatie learned to swim when he was five in his parent's backyard pool.
"I was diving in my pool and asked my grandmother if she could give me scores. She always gave some 10s. Always," he said. "Then I asked my dad if I could do it for real."
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HOCKEY: Few did more than goalkeeper Roslan Jamaluddin to propel the Malaysian men's field hockey team into the final.
The last round was a disappointment, with Australia trouncing Malaysia 4-0. But on the way to the silver, the long-haired Roslan denied team after team what seemed like certain goals.
In the semifinal round, favored India had eight penalty corners but couldn't get the ball past Roslan.
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WEIGHTLIFTING: There are only 7,000 people on the Pacific island of Nauru, and one of them is among the strongest men in the world.
Marcus Stephen won three gold medals, lifting 292.5 kilograms, or nearly five times his body weight.
Stephen is a hero in his homeland, where a national holiday has been named after him.
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THE WALK: Craig Barrett of New Zealand was out in front, less than a kilometre from winning the 50-kilometre walk by a comfortable margin. Then dehydration set in.
He staggered, wobbled, crouched down and picked up the pace. He fell down, and kept on walking. Finally, he fell again and this time he was taken to hospital in ambulance. Barrett recovered after being hooked to a fluid drip.
'I was expecting people would perceive this a failure, rather than a courageous effort so it's been very nice that people have shown support," he said.
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BOXING: Judges ordered English boxer Audley Harrison to wear new gloves for his bout and they were too tight.
A miffed Harrison vented his anger in the ring -- a powerful left that floored his opponent, Michael Macaque of Mauritius, just 65 seconds into the fight.
The super-
heavyweight title was Harrison's, but he wants more out of his boxing career.
"I am in it for fame and glory. I want to be a household name," he said.
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GYMNASTICS: She began dancing ballet at age four. At age nine she switched to rhythmic gymnastics because she was too tall for a dancer and when she fell it hurt.
The years of pain finally became worth it Monday for Canadian Erika-Leigh Stirton when she won her fifth gold medal on the floor with her dances and prances with the rope, a hoop, the clubs and a ribbon.
On Sunday, the five-foot-1 1/2 gymnast from Oakville, Ont., had won the individual all-round title.
Her five golds equalled that of Australia's Kasumi Takahashi who won the hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and individual all-around titles at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria.
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CRICKET: Until the end Steve Waugh remained unbeaten. The Australian captain piled up 215 runs from four innings and not once could any bowler get him out.
His innings became more and more valuable as Australia advanced in the round robin league. With a 100 against India, Waugh led Australia's victory in the semifinal. In the final he made 90 to rescue his side from 58 for 4 to 183 all out.
But the heroic effort went unrewarded as South Africa defeated Australia by four wickets.
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RUGBY: Jonah Lomu, the world's most recognizable rugby player, has endured a horrid couple of years. But the 1995 World Cup star's long-term kidney illness and subsequent loss of form were forgotten when he joined his teammates in a victory "haka" after the rugby sevens final.
New Zealand's Test side had just completed a worst ever losing streak of five games before the Games.
Lomu set up two tries and made a couple of crucial tackles as the Kiwis beat world champion Fiji in the final. The man nicknamed the whale was in tears after the game.
"Words can't explain it. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity that we got," Lomu said after collecting his medal before 20,000 cheering fans, most of them Malaysian.