Arab Times

Fraser-Pryce smashes Games record

Colombia’s Pajon wins BMX gold

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LIMA, Aug 10, (Agencies): Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce broke the 40-yearold Pan Am Games 200 metres record when the twice Olympic 100 metres champion clocked 22.43 seconds to win gold on Friday.

The 32-year-old clipped twohundred­ths of a second off American Evelyn Ashford’s Games record of 22.45 set at San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1979.

Fraser-Pryce, who won Olympic titles in 2008 and 2012, beat Brazil’s Vitoria Cristina Rose by almost twotenths of a second with Bahamian Tynia Gaither third in 22.76.

Her Jamaican compatriot Danniel Thomas-Dodd smashed another Games record in the women’s shot put, throwing a national record 19.55 metres.

That erased Cuban Maria Elena Sarria’s 1983 record of 19.34 metres.

South American record holder Alex Quinonez of Ecuador won the men’s 200 in 20.27 for an easy victory over Jereem Richards of Trinidad & Tobago (20.38) and Yancarlos Martinez of the Dominican Republic (20.44).

Brazil proved to be the fastest in the 4x100 metres relays, winning the women’s race 43.04 seconds and the men’s in 38.27.

The Brazilians also claimed the men’s 10,000 metres with Ederson Vilela running 28 minutes, 27.47 seconds.

The United States, which has found golds scarce in athletics, won two on the sport’s penultimat­e day at the Games.

US record holder Kara Winger prevailed in the javelin with a throw of 64.92 metres and Nikki Hiltz took the women’s 1,500 metres in 4:07.14.

A tattoo of the Olympic rings on the right wrist of two-time BMX gold medalist Mariana Pajon is now a badge of honor. A second tattoo on her left arm reading “Beyond gold” reminds her to strive for more.

The Colombian raised her bike triumphant­ly and held the yellow, blue and red national flag aloft again Friday when she won the BMX racing gold at the Pan American Games.

The victory continued to cement her legacy in a sport that traces its roots to southern California, but that Pajon has conquered since she won at the London Olympics in 2012 and again in Rio four years later.

Pajon also had a dominant performanc­e in Lima, winning all three of her semifinal runs. She finished the nearly quarter-mile course filled with bumps and sharp turns in 36.323 seconds, beating Brazil’s Paola Reis, who won silver. Stefany Hernandez of Venezuela took bronze.

“I’ve faced a lot of tough moments this year, so just to be able to be here is wild,” the 27-year-old Pajon said after the race.

Last year, Pajon tore a ligament when she crashed on the first jump of the World Cup in the Netherland­s and had to be carried off the course on a stretcher. She couldn’t ride for months. She didn’t know if she was going to walk again, let alone compete. So her first race back felt like an Olympic gold medal.

But she fell again during the recent World Cup in Belgium and arrived in Lima recovering from other injuries.

“Even though I fell at the (Belgium) World Cup, I left with good feelings at that World Cup,” Pajon said. “I arrived to Lima feeling strong, even with micro-fractures in both arms, stitches in my elbows, sprains in the ankle and waist. I didn’t know if I was going to race here. But the heart is stronger and propels you to come here.”

Eve Jobs contribute­d to a United States bronze in team show jumping at the Pan Am Games and narrowly missed out on another in the individual event on Friday, putting the youngest daughter of Apple founder Steve Jobs in the Olympic conversati­on.

Representi­ng the US in an internatio­nal competitio­n for the first time, the 21-year-old took a small step towards easing out of the huge shadow cast by her late father with a confident, controlled performanc­e.

She has a long way to go to establish her name in her own right, however, if Friday is any evidence to go by.

Brazil’s Marlon Zanotelli won gold, Argentina’s Jose Larocca the silver and US veteran Breezie Madden the bronze but the biggest media scrum was around fifth-placed Jobs.

To the disappoint­ment of many in the media pack, though, Jobs does not talk about her father.

It is a rule followed by two other up-and-coming young riders she often competes against, Jennifer Gates, daughter of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Jessica Springstee­n, daughter of rocker Bruce Springstee­n.

All three, according to those working in the tight knit equestrian community, are driven to walk their own path and be recognised for their own accomplish­ments.

No questions about Steve Jobs are the ground rules going into any interview, including those conducted in the Pan Am Games mixed zone.

Such transgress­ions, however, will be harder to deflect if Jobs lives up to the greatness predicted for her.

Competing in a sport where careers can span decades, Jobs now has her sights on fighting for a spot on the 2020 Olympic team.

Madden, who has participat­ed in four Olympics for the US winning four medals including team gold in 2004, believes Jobs and her mount Venue d’Fees des Hazalles are already Olympic calibre.

“I thought she (Jobs) handled it (Pan Ams) outstandin­gly as she has

PAN AM GAMES

in every competitio­n this year,” Madden told Reuters.

“I think she has jumped double clear in every team competitio­n she has been in this year for us, and I think that says a lot for her levelheade­dness and ability to concentrat­e and produce under pressure.

“This was difficult today and she is right in there with the top people.”

Like many athletes uncomforta­ble with anything encroachin­g on their private lives, Jobs talked about the technical details or her performanc­e and heaped praise on others – in this case her team mates and her horse.

“I’ve had her for two years now and she has taken me to a new level in the sport,” said Jobs. “I owe her everything.

“She just gives me so much confidence I am so proud of the partnershi­p we have. It is an honour to represent my country always and we had a great team.

“This is my first time at a team championsh­ip and that comes with pressure and I think just getting to jump here and jump for my country with team mates, I have learned so much.”

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 ??  ?? From left to right: Priscilla Stevaux of Brazil, Daina Tuchschere­r of Canada, Drew Mechielsen of Canada and Mariana Pajon of Colombia compete in the women’s cycling BMX heat at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru
on Aug 9. (AP)
From left to right: Priscilla Stevaux of Brazil, Daina Tuchschere­r of Canada, Drew Mechielsen of Canada and Mariana Pajon of Colombia compete in the women’s cycling BMX heat at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru on Aug 9. (AP)

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