Posted: August 20, 2005

Athletics: Akinsulie just misses in drive for five gold medals

Ontario protest denied after 4x100 relay final

Esther Akinsulie's drive for five gold medals fell one short yesterday at the Canada Summer Games in Regina.

Akinsulie led Ontario to first place in the 4x400-metre relay last night, with a time of three minutes 44.140 seconds to second-place B.C.'s 3:46.640, but the 4x100 relay was her undoing.

Even before the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club runner from Kanata touched the baton in the women's 4x100 final, two of her teammates struggled with the opening two exchanges, leaving Ontario near the back in the eight-team field.

Akinsulie ran a strong anchor leg and passed two runners down the final stretch to give Ontario a fifth-place finish in 48.51 seconds.

B.C. won the race in 46.65, while Quebec was second, 47.11, and Alberta was third, 47.89.

But Ontario coaches lodged a protest after the race, claiming there wasn't enough time before the start of the race for their second runner to put down a piece of masking tape on the wet track to know when to start running before receiving the baton.

However the protest was denied.

"I'm not too happy because of the bad exchanges," Akinsulie said in a telephone interview after the race.

If Akinsulie had won five gold medals, she would have made history as the first athlete to do so in the sport of athletics in a single Canada Summer Games.

Earlier in the week, Akinsulie, 21, dominated the individual sprints by winning the 100, 200 and 400 metres, setting personal best times in all three races.

Formerly a talented basketball player, Akinsulie has only trained seriously with the Lions for the past two seasons.

She'll also compete in the Games of the Francophonie in December in Niger, Africa, and hopes to meet the qualifying time standards to race in the Commonwealth Games in March in Melbourne, Australia.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2005 Reprinted with permission.