(Photo by Jason Chiou)
Lopez golden in shot putSeveral runners advance to finals Tuesdayby Joshua Weinstock and Leila Hanaumi on September 7, 2009 The U.S. Athletics Team came away with a gold medal in its first day of competition Monday at Taipei Stadium, along with several qualifiers for Tuesday's 100-meter final. Joanel Lopez, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native, threw 16.26 meters — 53.3 feet — in the men's shot put to win the gold. Incredibly, all six of Lopez's throws were, in order, 15.70, 15.31, 16.26, 15.92, 16.04 and 16.13 meters. All were better than second-place Turkish Mahmut Kilic's 15.21-meter heave. "It was really unbelievable, I never heard of the Deaflympics before last year, and I've trained hard since August 2008. I've been through a lot of ups and downs. … All the hard work paid off here. I've reached the highest peak I can reach," an awe-struck Lopez said at a social party hosted by the USA Deaf Sports Federation committee Monday evening at Miramar Garden Taipei Hotel. Lopez woke up nervous for the big day, he said. "The taxi drive on the way to the stadium didn't exactly calm me down, but once I entered the stadium, it was gone and I was ready." However, he isn't satisfied with what he has done in the shot put. "I still have the hammer throw, and I don't want to come back home with only one gold!" he said. Two 100-meter runners also will have an opportunity to win more gold medals for the U.S. after their semifinal heats Monday. Josh Hembrough and Delvin Furlough both ran 10.89 and 10.95 seconds, respectively. Hembrough placed first in the first group heat while Furlough came in third in the third group heat. They will have to watch out for Maris Grenins of Latvia, who ran a 10.85 in the second group heat and finished with the best overall time. Hembrough placed second, and Furlough seventh. They are among the final eight who will sprint Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. Furlough said participating in earlier events sapped his energy. "I'm excited about making the finals, but I'm not happy about placing third" in the heat, Furlough said. "I was out of energy by the time I competed in my third event of the day [100m and 400m heats], so I'm going to eat better and rest more for tomorrow." Like Furlough, Hembrough wasn't satisfied with his final race. "I was fast during my first race, but I needed to relax more for the [semi] final race," he said. "Tomorrow, I'm going to make sure I stay relaxed and just run." Furlough also ran a 49.62 in the 400m qualifying heat, placing second out of 16 runners. He will face Sergiy Mazuro of Ukraine, who ran a 49.40 during his heat. The U.S. didn't have a picture-perfect day, as several athletes failed to advance in their qualifying heats. Sprinter Terrell Sumers failed to advance in the 100m with a 11.9 mark, barely missing the cutoff by .34 seconds. Female sprinters Ana Shelton and Joylisa Davis both advanced in the 100m heats, but failed to make the cut in the semifinals. Davis also missed advancing in the 400m semifinals by 1.22 seconds. After the 400m, Davis felt dizzy, had difficulty breathing and then fainted. Upon waking up, she was taken to the trainer's room, where she was given water and medical attention. "We can't say much right now, except that Joylisa was probably dehydrated," hurdles and jumping coach Chip Stirling said. Roman Drymalski was primed to make a splash in the 400m hurdles heat. However, at the ninth and final hurdle, Drymalski misjudged a jump and fell. He slumped across the finish line with a time of 72.67. The heat had only nine athletes competing, and Drymalski was the odd man out for the finals. The athletics coaches were pleased with the team's overall showing, and said they look forward to another strong day Tuesday with three finals in the men's 100m, men's pole vault and women's shot put. |
 (Photo by Bill Millios)
 (Photo by Jason Chiou)
 (Photo by Jason Chiou)
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