RI veteran swimmer steals 100m SEAG race

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.