Posted: August 18, 2005

Athletics: Akinsulie sprinting for five gold

By Martin Cleary, The Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa Lions runner says it's possible

Fred Chartrand, The Canadian Press Esther Akinsulie leaves Kimberly Hyacinthe of Lachenaie, Que., behind on her way to a gold-medal win in the 100-metre final Monday.

Esther Akinsulie's personal Canada Summer Games scoreboard reads as follows: Gold medals, two; gold-medal opportunities remaining, three.

As the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club athlete enters the final two days of athletics competition scheduled for today and tomorrow, she has the chance to leave Regina with a perfect record of five golds for five sprint races.

"There's a good possibility," said Akinsulie, a Carleton University student who is only in her second year of serious training as a sprinter. "It would mean a lot, since this is my first and last Canada Summer Games. If I get it (five firsts), I never would have expected it."

After winning the 100 metres on Monday and the 400 metres on Tuesday in personal-best times, she enjoyed a day of rest yesterday as athletics had an off day at the Games.

"I was surprised to PB in the 100 metres because it was only my third 100 metres of the season," she said. "I didn't think I'd win the 100."

Akinsulie, the national senior women's 400-metre champion, is expected to return to the track today for the 200-metre heats and finals, and the 4x400-metre relay heats. The 4x100-metre and 4x400-metre relay finals are tomorrow.

If she wins five gold medals, it would be a Canada Games record for the sport of athletics, but far from the standard for the most gold and most medals won overall at a single Games.

Swimmer Ray Betuzzi of Calgary broke the former record of eight total medals for a single Games last week, when he won nine medals, including seven gold. Cory Rublee of Regina captured five gold medals last week in flatwater canoeing.

Only seven athletes in four sports -- swimming, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and canoe/kayak -- have won five or more golds in one Games, including Ontario's Matthew Rose, swimming, 2001, and Prus Roxoliana, rhythmic gymnastics, 1999.

"She has done really well," said Lions sprint coach Hugh Conlin about Akinsulie. "I don't know if she has done better than expected, but she has improved all of her times.

"Our goal was to improve times in the 200 and 400 metres to open opportunities to the national team and the (federal) carding program (for monthly financial support).

Akinsulie won the 100-metre final in 11.80 seconds. Her previous best time was 11.99, which isn't on the Athletics Canada ranking list because of insufficient wind information.

She lowered her personal best in the 400 by four-10ths of a second when she won in 53.42. Her previous best of 53.88 allowed her to win her first national senior title last month in Winnipeg.

Akinsulie, who will compete in the Games of the Francophonie in December in Niger, Africa, hopes to continue to lower her time in the 400 metres to qualify for the Commonwealth Games March 16-26 in Melbourne, Australia. The A standard, which was developed by Athletics Canada, is 51.50, and the B standard is 52.97.

"She's definitely feeling very good," Conlin said. "When she ran 11.80 (for the 100 metres), I knew she was ready to run a fast time (in the 400 metres)."

Akinsulie ran her personal best for 200 metres last month in Halifax at 23.82.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2005 Reprinted with permission.