MARSHALL MAKES HISTORY IN MELBOURNE
Team England swimmer Mel Marshall today made history by becoming
the most prolific English woman medallist at a single Commonwealth
Games.
Her silver in the 4x100m medley relay was her sixth medal
at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
It means she surpasses the five medals won by swimmers June
Croft in 1982, Karen Pickering in 1994 and Karen Legg in 2002.
She equals the record set by swimmer Brian Brinkley in 1974
and shooter Malcolm Cooper in 1982.
Fittingly, her achievement came on a night when Team England
ended their run of medals in the pool with three further silver
and a bronze to take their final Games tally to eight gold,
11 silver and four bronze.
Rebecca Cooke added a silver to the gold she won two days
ago with a British Record of 4:44.60 in the 400m Individual
Medley.
The City of Glasgow swimmer wasn't challenged for the second
spot, but couldn't catch Australian Stephanie Rice who touched
home in a new Games Record on 4:41.91. Jennifer Riley, also
of Australia, took bronze in 4:47.13 and England's Keri-Anne
Payne finished sixth in 4:51.31.
"I just missed out on the medals on this one in Manchester
last time, so it's great to get silver here," said Cooke.
"This event has gone from one that I do for fun to something
that I actually train for and I've just got a new British
Record, so I'm so pleased.
"I knew the freestyle was my strongest leg, and I knew
I could catch up quite a bit, but I didn't have enough in
the tank. I gave it my best shot and I'm really happy with
that."
The England 4x100m Medley Relay teams finished competition
on a high with silver and new British Records in both the
men's and women's events.
The men's team of Liam Tancock (Loughborough University),
Chris Cook (City of Newcastle), Matt Bowe (Loughborough University)
and Ross Davenport (University of Bath) were unable to stop
the hosts taking their first men's medal (able-bodied) of
the Games despite setting a Games Record of 54.42 on the backstroke
leg, and touched for silver in a new British Record of 3:36.40.
Australia won gold with a new Games Record of 3:34.37 and
Scotland took bronze in 3:39.75.
In the women's event, the Australians once more dominated
the race and won in the World Record time they had so desperately
wanted. England's Mel Marshall, Kate Haywood (both Loughborough
University), Terri Dunning (City of Birmingham) and Fran Halsall
(City of Liverpool) swam home in 4:04.61 behind the Australians
in 3:56.30. Canada grabbed the bronze in 4:05.95.
Dunning celebrated double medal glory on the closing night
having collected bronze in the 200m Butterfly earlier in the
session. The 21-year-old, whose coach Adam Ruckwood is a former
Commonwealth Champion, topped off a superb meet with a lifetime
best of 2:09.87. Australian Jessicah Schipper won gold in
a new Games Record of 2:06.09 and team mate Felicity Galvez
took silver in 2:08.16.
"That was a really tough last length, I just had to
put my head down and go," beamed Dunning. "It's
my first major Games, so to come here and get a bronze, I'm
really pleased. I had to wait until the last day for my main
event, so I had to keep focussed all week."
In the 50m Freestyle, Mark Foster was unable to finish his
final Commonwealth Games with a medal and was pushed into
fourth in 22.49. Roland Schoeman of South Africa won gold
in 22.03, a new Games Record.
"That is the end of my sixth and last Commonwealth Games,"
said a frustrated Foster. "I've medalled at all the others
and it would have been nice to go out on a medal tongiht.
"I am disappointed, but the boys were quick today. I
haven't had the best week, but I hoped to finish second or
third - I knew Schoeman was ahead."
"Six weeks ago I sprained my leg so I haven't been doing
any leg weights or work on my turning for a while. Today,
I just didn't have enough in the tank.
"The World Championships are in two weeks and hopefully
I can get in the pool there and get a medal back."
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