Day 9: Tunisian swimmer Mellouli wins Olympic gold

2008-08-17

Swimmer Oussama Mellouli made history in Beijing on Sunday by winning Tunisia's first gold medal in 40 years. Olympic medal aspirations remain alive for some other Maghreb athletes in athletics and boxing events.

Mawassi Lahcen in Casablanca, Nazim Fethi in Algiers and Mona Yahia in Tunis contributed to this report – 17/08/08

[Getty Images] Tunisian swimming champion Oussama Mellouli kisses the gold medal he won in the 1500m freestyle on Sunday.

Tunisian swimmer Oussama Mellouli pulled off an upset victory Sunday (August 17th) to claim the gold medal in the 1500m freestyle Sunday (August 17th) at the Beijing Olympics. With 300m left in the race, the 24-year-old took over the lead from world-record holder and 4-time world champion Grant Hackett to win in 14:40.84.

After completing 30 laps, Mellouli's touched the wall just 0.69 seconds ahead of Hackett, who took the silver medal in 14:41.53. Ryan Cochrane of Canada won the bronze.

"I felt good in the first 400m of this race and at 800m and 900m I started believing that I could win," Mellouli told reporters.

Tunisia's swimming sensation came off an 18-month suspension in May after testing positive for the amphetamine Adderall at a 2006 meet. Mellouli has maintained that the incident was an "honest mistake".

"I've been waiting for this moment for two years. It's the redemption I wanted and I got it. This year was difficult because of the [drugs] penalty, but I thank God for the talent I've been given," Mellouli said.

"In the finals you never know what can happen, you could get last or first. At the Olympic Games anything can happen. It was a miracle and for once the miracle was for me," he added.

Another Tunisian athlete did not fare as well. Habiba Ghribi finished 13th in the women’s 3000m steeplechase Sunday in Beijing, completing the course in 9:36.43 minutes. Russia's Gulnara Galkina-Samitova scored a new world record of 8:58.81 minutes to take the gold.

The ninth day of the Beijing Olympics was also disappointing for Algerians who were relying on success in athletics events.

During much of the 42km marathon, Soaud Ait Salem looked promising. He was part of the leading pack until the 35th kilometer, when he fell behind and never regained the ground. He finished 9th with a time of 2:28:29.

Antar Zerguelaine and Tarek Boukensa were both eliminated in the semi-final of the 1500m footrace.

In the men's 10,000m race, Moroccan athletes Abdellah Falil and Mohamed El Hachimi hardly stood a chance because Kenyans, Ethiopians and Eritreans dominated the leading positions. Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele won the gold medal, setting a new Olympic record of 27.01.17.

The outlook for Maghreb boxers still looks good. Tunisian flyweight Walid Chérif qualified to the men’s +51 kg quarter-final after crushing his Korean opponent Oksung Lee 11-5 on points. Cherif is due to fight Italy's Picardi Vincenzo on Wednesday (August 20th).

Algerian boxers Abdelkader Chadi (+57 kgs), Benchebla Abdelhafidh (+81 kgs) and Nawfel Ouettah (+91 kgs) are the last Algerians in the running for medals at the games.

On Monday, featherweight Chadi will face Turkey's Yakup Kiliç, super-heavyweight Ouettah will meet Ukraine's Vyacheslav and light heavyweight Benchebla will fight China's Xiaoping Zhang.