BRILLIANT PERFORMANCE OF THE BLIND ATHLETES AT SEVILLA '99

BEFORE A TRULY ENTHUSIASTIC CROWD

The 100 metres Women's B1 event got under way at 7 p.m. The event consisted of two heats with four participants in each. The first race included the Russian Elena Frolova, accompanied by the heptathlon athlete who finished tenth in Seville'99, Natalya Roshchupkina, the American Sonya Bell with T. J. Lester, the Indian girl Midya Durga with Bag Samitkumar and the Belarus athlete Halina Bialevitch with her guide Regina Krivochei. The Russian came first with a time of 13.85, followed by Sonya Bell with 15.37. Both the Belarus and the Indian athletes were disqualified for the same reason ­ their guides crossed the finishing line ahead of the blind athletes.

The second heat was contested by the Spaniards Purificación Santamarta with Cristian Díaz and Raquel Díaz with Daniel Rovira, the Italian María Ligorio with Michelle Gionfrido and the British representative Tracey Hinton, accompanied by her guide James Wagstaff.

The veteran athlete Purificación Santamarta achieved the best result of the two heats with a time of 12.55, followed by María Ligorio with 12.81 and Raquel Díaz with 12.91. Despite her time, the athlete from Burgos was not satisfied with her time and she declared that the hard surface of the track made it difficult for the lighter athletes to achieve better times.

The public constantly cheered on the two Spanish girls and the highlight of the day came with the medals ceremony, at which Puri was clearly deeply moved by the response of the crowd who all rose to their feet as the Spanish national anthem was played. The medals were awarded by Giovanna Nebiolo, the wife of the President of the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF), Dr. Primo Nebiolo.

The 200 metres Men's event in the B1 category (totally blind) started at 7:15 p.m. The first heat was made up of Andrew Curtis (Great Britain) with his guide Jason Walbyoff, the Czech Petr Novak with Petr Vocilka, the Frenchman Aladji Ba with Philippe Biscay and the Italian Mauro Porpora with Andrea Camilli. The British athlete was the fastest with a time of 24.26, followed by the Czech with a personal best of 24.52. The Frenchman Ba came third with 25.15. Porpora could not finish the race due to an injury.

The second heat included two Spanish athletes, Julio Requena from León with his guide José María Álvarez and the Toledo athlete Luis Bullido with George Jojo Ateen. The favourite for this race was the Cuban athlete Arián Iznaga, the world champion in both the 100m and 200m events at the Madrid'98 World Championships. However, Arián's guide, Reynaldo Vázquez, was not to live up to the occasion. The Italian Lorenzo Ricci was the fourth entry in this heat and his guide was the B3 athlete, Aldo Manganaro.

The forecasts were not fulfilled in this second heat and the winner was Julio Requena with a time of 24.09, followed by Arián Iznaga who left his guide behind to finish with a time of 24.62. Lorenzo Ricci came third with 24.73 and, finally, Luis Bullido with 26.01.

Julio Requena thus won the gold medal, with the silver going to the British athlete Curtis and the bronze to the Czech Novak in a race where all the predictions came to nothing. Only the Spanish athlete had been tipped to win a medal, but the tremendous first heat proved a surprise for everyone and produced the British and Czech medal-winning results. The performance of Arián earned the applause of the whole stadium, as everyone witnessed the professional pride of the Cuban who was forced to let go of his guide with 25 metres still to go and cross the finishing line alone in second place, but with a time that was far below his true possibilities.

The medals were awarded by the President of the International Blind Sports Federation, Enrique Sanz, accompanied by the wife of the President of the Spanish Royal Athletics Federation, Gunilla de Odriozola.

The Spanish flag was thus hoisted on two consecutive occasions in the Olympic Stadium and the public stood up as one to applaud the athletes. Despite being more than used to winning, Puri could not withhold her tears before the over 40,000 spectators who enthusiastically cheered her performance.

The box reserved for distinguished guests was occupied by Enrique S. Sánchez, Director General of the ONCE, accompanied by his wife Reyes Lluch, Enrique Sanz, as well as the President of IAAF, Dr. Primo Nebiolo, Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee and the Mayor of Seville, Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín.

• Press conference, dinner and Victor Ludorum awards.