RI veteran swimmer steals 100m SEAG race

By Novan Iman Santosa

KUALA LUMPUR (JP): Veteran Richard Sam Bera of Indonesia lived up to his reputation as the fastest swimmer in the region when he defied younger opposition to retain the prestigious 100-meter freestyle gold medal at the 21st Southeast Asian Games here on Monday.

Richard, 31, produced a brilliant sprint in the last 50 meters to equal his own meet record of 51.03 seconds, beating closest contenders, Malaysian Allen Ong who clocked in at 51.31 for the silver and Mark Chay Jung Jun of Singapore, who managed 51.76 for the bronze.

The race, held at the National Aquatic Center in Bukit Jalil National Sports Complex, was tight as Richard trailed Ong during the first 50 meters. But Richard proved his mastery at the event when he burst into sprint at the right moment.

Richard watched his result on the giant electronic scoreboard and clenched his left fist in the air in delight.

"I already know Ong's style of completing the first 50 meters quickly. So my strategy was to catch up with him in the second 50 meters coming home," Richard told reporters after the medal presentation ceremony.

"I had to run after him closely to enable me to overtake him in the last 50 meters."

A number of officials from national swimming organizations in the region gave a standing ovation when Richard and the other two medalists winners did a victory lap around the pool.

Richard will return to the pool at other prestigious events such as the 50m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay events. He said he would do his best to bring more gold medals home although it would be very difficult.

"It will be a totally different race in the 50m because it is shorter and I cannot afford to be left behind just like in the 100m. There will be no room to catch up so I have to speed up," he said.

"The Indonesian team will only be fighting for silver or the bronze medal in the relay event because we have lost half of our power with Wisnu Wardhana and Felix Sutanto being out of the team. The seniors consist of only Albert Sutanto and I," he added.

Richard, who has dominated the 100m swimming event since the 1989 Games and the 50m event at the 1993 Games, said the Kuala Lumpur Games was definitely his last.

"I have to stop at some point and allow younger swimmers to take the lead. They are not ready yet but they will never be ready if I were to take part in the 2003 Games," he told reporters.

"My juniors will not be ready even at the Hanoi 2003 Games because they will reach their best performance at the 2005 Games."

"But I will think about participating at the Pusan 2002 Asian Games," he added.

Indonesia won another bronze medal in the swimming events when young swimmer Muhammad Akbar Nasution secured a bronze medal from his specialization, 200m breaststroke, clocking 1:06.04 behind Malaysian Elvin Chia who clocked 1:03.15 and Vietnamese Tran Xuan Hien with 1:04.94.

Swimming in lane 3, Akbar was left behind in third and fourth position during the first 100 meters but he managed to claw his way back in the last 50 meters and touched the finish pad just ahead of Filipino Miguel Molina in 1:06.53.

Indonesia's young women's swimmers, however, failed to match their seasoned opponents.

Siripiya Sutanto finished seventh in the women's 400m freestyle clocking 4:37.59, far behind Ravee Intporn-Udom of Thailand who clinched the gold. Yohana Prajogo was even worse finishing last at 1:18.90, more than six seconds behind Nicolette Teo Wei-Min of Singapore who achieved 1:12.64 to win the gold.