OLYMPICS/ Athletes
Lithuania, Egypt win pentathlon
By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-17 10:32
Egyptian Aya Medany and Lithuanian Edvinas Krungolcas clinched the women's and men's world titles respectively in the 2007 Modern Pentathlon Final yesterday in Beijing.
Medany, who was the first female modern pentathlete to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in February, won gold with 5,536 points followed by Elen Rublevska from Latvia with 5,528 points.
Gold medallists of the women's Modern Pentathlon, Aya Medany of Egypt (C), Elen Rublevska from Latvia (L) and Sara Bertoli of Egypt (R) pose during the prize presentation at the the 2007 Modern Pentathlon Final in Beijing, September 16, 2007. [Xinhua] |
Italian Sara Bertoli finished third with 5,520 points.
Current world No 11 Medany didn't start her day well by finishing ninth in the first two disciplines, shooting and fencing.
She caught up a little to be fourth after the swimming and ascended to third place after riding.
Finally, a strong running performance elevated her to the top of the podium.
"I just recovered from a leg injury," Medany said.
"I think today's competition is a warm-up for the Olympic Games next year.
"I will be 19 years old next year. It is an uncertain dream for any pentathlete to get a medal at the Olympic Games."
During Saturday's men's competition Krungolcas scored 5,788 points to win and qualify for the Beijing Olympics, while Eric Walther from Germany finished runner-up with 5,748 points.
"I'm so happy, it's so great for me," said Krungolcas, who won his fourth world cup gold medal.
The 2006 world champion started the day in fourth after the shooting and secured his top ranking after riding, in which he scored full marks of 1200.
China's 2005 world champion Qian Zhenhua and Cao Zhongrong finished ninth and 10th respectively.
The event also served as a test for the Beijing Games and both venue and organizers won praise.
"All the promises by the BOCOG to let the pentathlon to be close with the Olympic Green is fulfilled and the quality of the facilities is really great," said Klaus Schormann, president of the International Modern Pentathlon Union.
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