Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times / Sport

Athletics get back on track

Bay of Plenty Times
6 Oct, 2010 09:56 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

After averting the ultimate embarrassment of having to delay the start of athletics competition because of a damaged track, organisers of the Commonwealth Games were dealing with a transit driver boycott today.
Competition started precisely on time in the track and field events last night, to the surprise of some commentators.
Olympic triple jump champion Jonathan Edwards, who saw the condition of the track and the infield on the eve of the first events, had described it as "beyond anything that I imagined".
A last-minute rush to fix and clean sections of the track and relay turf in the infield - damaged by vehicle and human traffic during Sunday's opening ceremony - got the stadium in good enough shape for the international track federation to approve it for competition hours before athletes were set to race.
England's Mark Lewis-Francis won the first heat in a men's 100m field missing the Commonwealth's biggest star Usain Bolt, shortly after competition kicked off with the women's parasports shot put.
Uganda's Moses Ndiema Kipsiro won the first gold medal of the track programme, holding off Kenya's Olympic silver medallist Eliud Kipchoge to finish in 13min 31.25sec.
However, with one problem solved, another took its place.
Press Trust of India reported 800 bus drivers had stopped turning up for Commonwealth Games duties because of long working hours and heavy security, but organisers were bringing in more than 900 local drivers to replace them.
The driver boycott wasn't among the problems Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell and local organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi addressed at a news conference today, where Fennell assured "all systems are go" for the track and field competition.
Kalmadi, asked why most stadiums were almost empty on the third day of competition, said an additional 50,000 tickets had been sold yesterday.
He'd earlier said organisers might have to give away tickets for free to children and low-income people to fill the venues.
Fennell admitted negative attention around the games hurt.
"I think that a lot of the adverse publicity leading up to the games has turned off some people, there is no question about that," Fennell said. "You can't hide that. We need to rebuild it so the games can be successful."
World record holder Gagan Narang has been on target at the shooting range to help shift some of the spotlight to sports.
After helping India claim their first gold of the games yesterday, he shot a perfect 600 in qualifying for the 10m air rifle and then set a games record 103.6 points in the final round to win his second New Delhi gold - at the expense of compatriot and Beijing Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra.
That was gold medal No6 for India, keeping the hosts in second place on the table. Indian shooters collected two of the other three gold medals on offer at the range today and the host country finished day three of competition with 11 gold medals and 24 medals overall.
Australia leads the way with 21 gold medals and 46 overall after 53 events. Their cyclists collected the first three gold medals at the velodrome overnight before Malaysia's Josiah Ng won a dramatic men's keirin race to end a run of six wins for the Aussies.
The Australian swimmers won six of the nine gold medals in today's pool programme, including both 4x200m relays.
Jason Dunford won Kenya's first gold of the games in the 50m butterfly. AP

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses
Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

The new facility will include a new building plus 14 asphalt and nine cushioned courts.

14 Jul 07:00 PM
Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought
Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

14 Jul 05:17 AM
Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes
Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes

14 Jul 04:28 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP