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Brit wins Gold despite having to train abroad
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Shooting: Gault holds nerve to edge out Indians
By Terry Marks
01 August 2002
Mick Gault lit up the shooting yesterday at Bisley, 216 miles from the main action in Manchester, with a nerveless finish.
The Sheffield-born civil servant won his seventh Commonwealth gold and had no doubt it was the most dramatic.
The Indians, with eight golds, have dominated at Bisley but they cracked under the relentless pressure from the former Royal Air Force man.
His hopes of retaining the title he won in Malaysia looked in tatters as he trailed in fourth place with three of the 70 shots remaining. One shot later the 48-year-old was joint third and then came the moment of truth.
His seven rivals had fired their penultimate shots. Then Gault shot for the third time and scored a 10.8, a fraction off the perfect 10.9 and he was second behind India's Samaresh Jung. The crowd let out a roar and it was all down to the last shot.
This time Gault fired rapidly for a 10.1, Jung's nerve failed him as he shot a 9.4 and third-placed Indian Jaspal Rana, who was also in contention, bettered them both with a 10.4. But it was not enough. Gault took gold on 675 out of a possible 700, Jung silver on 674.8 and Rana on 674.7 in a heart-pounding finish.
An emotional Gault said: "Brilliant, fantastic. This medal is definitely the best yet. I am over the moon about it."
He acknowledged the part the partisan crowd played in his success. "You hear it all the time in the swimming pool and it was fantastic," he said.
"I have never had anything like it in my life before. I just had to win it for the crowd."
Silver medallist Jung, was less responsive: "I am too busy to talk. I have to go and practice," he said. Gault's gold was the only home medal of a day which began with victory for 15-year-old Asif Hossain Khan, from Bangladesh, in the 10m air rifle singles final in his first international event overseas.
He beat 19-year-old Indian favourite Abhinav Bindra into second place and secured his country's first medal of the Games.
In the only other event completed yesterday Australia's Michael Diamond took the individual gold medal from countrymen Adam Vella. Three British shooters made it into the six for the final round but Michael Wixey of Wales was fourth with Northern Ireland's Thomas Allen fifth and Scotland's David Gillies sixth.
England's Glyn Barnett led the open full-bore rifle singles after day two of the event, which finishes with the third stage tomorrow. His two-round total 255.44 put him fractionally ahead of Northern Ireland's David Calvert on 255.41.
http://sport.independent.co.uk/cw_games/story.jsp?story=320379
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By Terry Marks
01 August 2002
Mick Gault lit up the shooting yesterday at Bisley, 216 miles from the main action in Manchester, with a nerveless finish.
The Sheffield-born civil servant won his seventh Commonwealth gold and had no doubt it was the most dramatic.
The Indians, with eight golds, have dominated at Bisley but they cracked under the relentless pressure from the former Royal Air Force man.
His hopes of retaining the title he won in Malaysia looked in tatters as he trailed in fourth place with three of the 70 shots remaining. One shot later the 48-year-old was joint third and then came the moment of truth.
His seven rivals had fired their penultimate shots. Then Gault shot for the third time and scored a 10.8, a fraction off the perfect 10.9 and he was second behind India's Samaresh Jung. The crowd let out a roar and it was all down to the last shot.
This time Gault fired rapidly for a 10.1, Jung's nerve failed him as he shot a 9.4 and third-placed Indian Jaspal Rana, who was also in contention, bettered them both with a 10.4. But it was not enough. Gault took gold on 675 out of a possible 700, Jung silver on 674.8 and Rana on 674.7 in a heart-pounding finish.
An emotional Gault said: "Brilliant, fantastic. This medal is definitely the best yet. I am over the moon about it."
He acknowledged the part the partisan crowd played in his success. "You hear it all the time in the swimming pool and it was fantastic," he said.
"I have never had anything like it in my life before. I just had to win it for the crowd."
Silver medallist Jung, was less responsive: "I am too busy to talk. I have to go and practice," he said. Gault's gold was the only home medal of a day which began with victory for 15-year-old Asif Hossain Khan, from Bangladesh, in the 10m air rifle singles final in his first international event overseas.
He beat 19-year-old Indian favourite Abhinav Bindra into second place and secured his country's first medal of the Games.
In the only other event completed yesterday Australia's Michael Diamond took the individual gold medal from countrymen Adam Vella. Three British shooters made it into the six for the final round but Michael Wixey of Wales was fourth with Northern Ireland's Thomas Allen fifth and Scotland's David Gillies sixth.
England's Glyn Barnett led the open full-bore rifle singles after day two of the event, which finishes with the third stage tomorrow. His two-round total 255.44 put him fractionally ahead of Northern Ireland's David Calvert on 255.41.
http://sport.independent.co.uk/cw_games/story.jsp?story=320379
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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Tragedy's aftermath brackets golden gun Gault with the criminals. Alan Hubbard reports
07 July 2002
Manchester 2002
Fredericks' story set to run and run
To Athens via Harvard and Manchester
A sport forever in Dunblane's shadow
They are pariahs with pistols, and if they were caught practising their sport here they could be arrested. Since the 1996 massacre at Dunblane, Britain's dwindling army of handgun marksmen have been reduced to the ranks of the politically incorrect; even worse, they are deemed to be outlaws.
Yet the leader of the renegade posse is hardly Jesse James. Mick Gault is a 48-year-old former RAF sergeant who works as a civil servant for the Ministry of Defence in Norfolk. He also happens to be the most medalled Briton in any Commonwealth Games. The record haul of four he collected in Kuala Lumpur four years ago is stashed in a drawer at his home near Dereham and a host of other trophies is in his loft.
Most of them have been acquired abroad because Gault is banned from shooting his speciality event, the 2.2 free pistol, in mainland Britain.
That's the law now, although an exception is being be made for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, when the national shooting headquarters at Bisley, in Surrey, will become a temporary suburb of the host city Manchester.
It is known that the Government was uneasy about giving special dispensation to allow pistol shooting, other than with air pistols, to be included in the Games, but backed down under fire from the then sports minister Kate Hoey. Had they stuck to their no-guns rule, there might have been no Games.
Because of the political opprobrium, the Manchester organisers originally wanted to exclude shooting but were threatened with boycotts by several nations as it happens to be the second biggest sport in the Games in terms of available medals.
In common with other pistol shooters, Gault is not allowed to practise in this country other than with an air gun. "If I bought a 2.2 into this country I would be banned for two years." That's why he has to go abroad to train, usually in Switzerland, at a shooting club in Zahrwagen, south of Zurich, where he keeps his guns.
Says the national coach Tom Redhead: "Fortunately the Swiss go out of their way to help us. They realise we are not murderers and simply want to pursue a sport."
Teams will be permitted one week's practice at Bisley before the Games but will be allowed to use their pistols only for the duration. Once the Games are over, the England team's guns will have to be transported back to Switzerland.
One irony is that Lottery funding pays for most of the visits to Switzerland. Another is that Gault and fellow UK shooters will have to obtain an overseas visitors' permit to shoot here. "When I learnt I had to fill in a visitors' permit to enable me to shoot for my own country, the country where I was born and bred, whose forces I served in, it really pumped me in the guts," he says.
While other nations have had four years to prepare properly for the Games, England's pistol shooters have had a total of nine days of training in Switzerland. While the cartridge skills have been helped by the legal use of air pistols, they say that practising with an air pistol for a cartridge event is like training for a steeplechase without the fences. "The recoil factor which happens with a 2.2 is missing," says coach Redhead." Bang, Bang, Bang is different from Bang... Bang... Bang."
Gault will also be shooting in the air pistol event which, like the free and standard pistol, demands consistent accuracy, firing into an 11mm bull from 50 metres. Although repeatedly raising and holding the gun steady has given Gault arthritis in his shooting arm, his proficiency over the years, since he took up the sport as an air cadet, has made him one of the world's top marksmen, averaging 580 out of 600 shots a time. At Bisley the strongest challenge will come from the Australians and Indians.
"Getting it right in shooting is a bit like hitting the ball sweetly in golf. You get a real kick out of a good shot. Any success I've had is probably because I am such a competitive *. I can't stand losing. It's the challenge of staying at the top that keeps me going. Sometimes when I come off the firing point my knees are trembling, I can't stand up. I'm knackered. It's a physical and mental strain over a two-hour period. It just about wastes me. But the elation of doing well is the reward."
He may be a big shot abroad, but at home it is his wife Janet who calls the shots, quite literally. He has built a sort of range-on-the-home in a specially reinforced garden shed which he calls "Crackshot Lodge". He trains there with an air pistol for an hour and a half every day after work, with Janet charting every shot as well as monitoring his timing and technique. Son Robin, 20, youngest of their three children, has been the British junior champion for the last two years. Gault also has back-up from the newly opened English Institute of Sport which covers medical assistance and fitness training. His coach says he has "a very professional approach in an amateur sport".
In the aftermath of Dunblane, Gault admits it was very much in his mind to say "Sod it all". "I did think about quitting, and I talked about it to my coach at the time, but he advised me to keep going. I have come to the conclusion that what I am doing is right. We have to keep the sport alive.
"I feel the ban was a knee-jerk reaction. We already had some of the most stringent gun laws in the world. Obviously you could not argue with the parents of Dunblane. They had lost their children, for God's sake. But being treated like a criminal just because you were a shooter was a gut-wrenching experience. I didn't think that could happen in a free society."
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=312617
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By Tim Glover
04 August 2002
The road to Bisley, the National Shooing Centre, is paved not only with gold, silver and bronze but establishments called The Hunter's Lodge, or its sleeping partner, The Fox. The main entrance to the shooting fields during the Commonwealth Games have been manned by demonstrators from the Sportsman's Association, protesting about the ban on target pistols in Britain brought into effect by the Firearms Act of 1997.
There are two ways of looking at this, highlighted by the stance of the Sports Minister, Richard Caborn, and his predecessor, Kate Hoey. Last week Caborn visited Bisley to witness the sharp shooters but side-stepped the hunting party and their banners by taking a side entrance. Therefore, there was no debate on the issue which Carborn clearly regards as a small bore. Had Hoey, who comes from a Northern Ireland farming community, still been in charge, she would probably have joined the demonstrators.
"What we have done to our pistol shooters is outrageous," she declared. "Any sensible government would admit that they had made a huge mistake." After the nightmares of Hungerford and Dunblane, the Government introduced the Firearms Act to take handguns off the street but both Hoey and the Sportsman's Association point out that there has been a year on year increase in gun-related crime.
A side-effect of the Act is that cartridge pistols are outlawed, even for sportsmen and women who are now forced to train abroad. Handguns can only be owned by individuals with the consent of the Home Office and it is rarely given. "It has not reduced crime one iota," Hoey said. "If anything there are more illegal guns around now than ever. Our pistol shooters should be allowed to go about their legitimate business and I will continue to campaign for their rights."
The Sportsman's Association would like to point out that there is a world of difference between Moss Side and Bisley but perhaps the greatest boost to the sport was provided by Charlotte Kerwood. She took the gold in the double trap clay pigeon final at the age of 15. In the old days she'd have been whisked off to a circus.
Big decisions after Big Mac
Whoever succeeds Lord MacLaurin as chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board faces the dilemma of what to do with county cricket - shoot it or revive it. The former is by far the easier if more painful option.
When MacLaurin vacated the chairmanship of Tesco six years ago he left the supermarket chain in a much ruder health than he is leaving the country's national summer sport. Widely applauded for his reforms and the promotion of the England Test team, MacLaurin, who took Tesco to No 1 in the supermarket league with a huge expansion programme, believes the professional game in the shires is unsustainable. As in football, he thinks that the numbers who are paid to play should be halved.
There are few other comparisons between the two sports. Football's problems are self-inflicted and centre around greed. It still has grass-roots support and wall-to-wall television coverage. Cricket has neither of those advantages.
Channel Four is big on Test matches but the county game, outside the interests of the die-hards, is to a large extent ignored. Thanks to television, it is easier in this country to keep more up to date with what is happening in American baseball than the latest developments in the County Championship. An evening highlights programme would be invaluable.
Baseball, like football, has to live with paying players extraordinary salaries. Cricket is not in the same league. Counties may either have to cut staff or merge: Middlesex with Surrey perhaps, Glamorgan-Somerset, Yorkshire-Lancashire. Tesco with Waitrose? Lord MacLaurin is a businessman first, a sportsman second, but he is experienced in both fields. He was involved in the successful bid by Valderrama for the 1997 Ryder Cup and in that respect has something in common with the former Glamorgan and England captain Tony Lewis, who is being touted as a successor to MacLaurin. Lewis was the front man for Welsh club Celtic Manor's drive to host the Ryder Cup.
Of the contenders for the ECB chairmanship, Lewis is the outsider. He would probably gain greater satisfaction in playing golf at Porthcawl. David Morgan, chairman of Glamorgan for five years until 1998, is MacLaurin's nomination as his successor and is the hot favourite. Nominations for the vacancy open on Tuesday and do not close until 27 August.
The coup and the backlash
It is de rigueur that if you want to get ahead get an Australian bush hat, complete with dangling corks. Not only is the head man of Sport England an Australian but England's swimming coach, diving coach and hockey coach are all from Oz. Come to think of it, why isn't Richie Benaud on the short list for the ECB job? We already have Rod Marsh running the cricket academy. Back in Australia the exodus is not always viewed with a handshake and a fond farewell of "good on yer mate", witness the departure from Australian rugby of Jason Jones-Hughes to Newport a couple of seasons ago.
Bath rugby club, who have beefed up their coaching staff with a pack of Queenslanders to supplement the appointment of Michael Foley, thought they had pulled off a coup in signing the former World Cup Wallabies flanker Mark Connors. After the Australian Rugby Union had given its blessing, Connors was offered a two-year contract worth about ?300,000. Confident of arriving in the West Country on 12 August, Connors put his house in Queensland on the market and made arrangements for the move.
However, when Bath discovered that they had exceeded the salary cap for the squad, it is understood that Andrew Brownsword, the club's chief executive and principal investor, hit upon a solution - Connors was surplus to requirements. Unsurprisingly the player is not amused at Bath's change of heart. A solicitor by trade, he is considering taking legal action against the club.
Morgan's rum revelation
Derek Morgan, the new president of the Rugby Football Union, performed his first task on Thursday evening, hosting a cocktail party at the Lowry Centre, Pier 8, at Salford Quays on the eve of the Commonwealth Games Sevens tournament. In expectation of a glorious evening, the tipple of the night was pink champagne but in fact the rain bucketed down. The drink, however, almost matched the blazers of the contingent from Trinidad and Tobago whose number, needless to say, included an Australian.
Enter the one-man front row by the name of Adrian Skeggs, formerly an assistant coach at Harlequins, Saracens and Worcester and now lending his weight to the sartorially spectacular but underpowered rugby islands of T & T.
Welshmen present at the bash might have been hoping that Morgan, a dentist who played most of his rugby for Newbridge in Monmouthshire and who lives in Cwmbran, could work as a fifth columnist for the land of his father. Not so. "My father was from Gloucestershire and I regard myself very much as an Englishman," Morgan the Filling announced proudly. "You must remember that at one time much of Monmouthshire was in England." Nevertheless, he's the first president of the RFU who sounds as Welsh as an eisteddfod. His goal for the new season? "I will only regard it as successful if we have www," he said. He was not referring to the world wide web but to wins for the England team.
Despite the fact that England were hosting the party, conspicuous by its absence was the red rose brigade captained by Phil Greening. Kenya were in no such party-pooping mood and, judging by their first match in Manchester on Friday, the pink bubbly did them no harm whatsoever.
The Kenyans produced the upset of the tournament, defeating Samoa in the pool stages. The Kenyan rugby players do not enjoy the level of support that is afforded the country's great runners. "There are more than 40 ethnic groups in Kenya," explained a spokesman. "And our president and our athletes are from the Kalenjin."
Also from the Commonwealth Games section.
Swimming: Thorpe six-pack caps Manchester's party
Swimming: Six out of seven leaves Thorpe a happy man
Swimming: Gold frenzy puts England's Sydney shame in the shade
Rugby sevens: New Zealand prove standing as the masters of sevens
Triathlon: Whitfield and Montgomery display iron in their soul
http://sport.independent.co.uk/cw_games/story.jsp?story=321256
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Lord Chancellor's son accused of stalking
The Lord Chancellor is standing by his son Alastair
A son of the lord chancellor is in prison in the United States after he was charged with offences including stalking the boyfriend of a tanning salon employee.
Alastair Irvine, 25, is also charged with burglary and carrying a gun, according to US court officials.
The problems began when Mr Irvine became enamoured of 19-year-old Nicole Healy while he was living in Newport Beach in California, according to the Orange County District Attorney.
"She told him she had a boyfriend, but Mr Irvine continued to bring flowers to her and call her," said spokeswoman Tori Richards.
She told him she had a boyfriend, but Mr Irvine continued to bring flowers to her and call her
District Attorney spokeswoman Tori Richards
He then began making threats against Nicole's boyfriend Karel Taska, also 19, said Ms Richards.
The Daily Mail reported that Mr Irvine's behaviour was so nasty, Nicole and Karel moved house three times in less than a month to escape him.
"There was absolute panic," Nicole's father Kevin told the newspaper. "I would say she was terrified for her life."
It is alleged Mr Irvine poured a caustic substance on Mr Taska's truck, causing $5,700 in damage, said Ms Richards.
He then went to the tanning salon with a gun in his belt and threatened him.
Ms Richards said: "He approached an employee there, showed that he had a handgun in his waist band, and threatened the life of Mr Taska."
Drug addiction
Mr Irvine's father Derry is head of the judiciary in England and Wales and a close friend of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The Daily Mail newspaper said Mr Irvine had been sent to the US by his family to receive treatment for his drug addiction.
There was absolute panic - I would say she was terrified for her life
Nicole's father Kevin
A spokesman for the Lord Chancellor's Department said in a statement that Mr Irvine's parents were standing by their son.
"Alastair's family are supporting him in his current problems as they always have.
"Beyond that they have nothing to say about Alastair's personal problems. The US legal process must take its course in the normal way."
Kevin Healy told the Mail he felt sorry for the Irvine family, and would not object if Mr Irvine was sent back to the UK rather than imprisoned - so long as he never returned to the US.
'Fragile despite bravado'
Dr Suzie Schuder, a psychiatrist treating Mr Irvine for drug dependency, said in court papers that he had "a history of major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder," as well as "substance abuse, which he used as a form of self-medication".
The charges
Stalking
Two counts of vandalism
Criminal threats
Second-degree burglary
Misdemeanour charge of carrying a concealed weapon
Dr Schuder added that Mr Irvine was "fragile despite any bravado he have displayed," adding that he "feels hopeless, helpless and worthless".
Mr Irvine has pleaded not guilty to one count of felony stalking, two felony counts of vandalism, one count of criminal threats, and a misdemeanour charge of carrying a concealed weapon.
He was also charged with one count of second-degree burglary for allegedly damaging a neighbour's car.
He is scheduled to be arraigned in court on Tuesday. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2165465.stm
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR
GEORGE Bush remained intent on overthrowing Saddam Hussein last night in the face of growing opposition from the Arab world and concerns that Britain was against an early strike on Baghdad.
Senior US officials insisted they were `determined' to force the Iraqi leader out of power despite his offer to break the four-year deadlock over allowing international weapons inspectors into his country.
The United Nations will consider an Iraqi offer of talks about the return of its inspectors this week. But US under-secretary for arms control John Bolton said the re-admission of inspectors would make no difference to America's determination to bring about a `regime change' in Baghdad.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell reinforced the hardline stance, accusing Saddam of trying to escape his obligations to disarm. "Inspection is not the issue, disarmament is, and making sure that the Iraqis have no weapons of mass destruction,'' Powell declared, during a visit to the Philippines.
"We have seen the Iraqis try to fiddle with the inspection system before. You can tell that they are trying to get out of the clear requirement that they have [to let inspectors in]. The goal is not inspections for inspection's sake."
But the uncompromising language contrasted sharply with the latest declaration of solidarity with Saddam from his Arab neighbours.
Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, arriving in Teheran for a diplomatic visit, claimed his country and Iran would not sanction any US attack on Iraq. "We oppose any military attack against Islamic and regional countries and we are both opposed to any American military attack against Iraq."
The declaration, which follows shows of dissent from King Abdullah of Jordan and the Arab League in the past week, demonstrated the wider problems facing President Bush as he ponders a decisive strike against Saddam.
Senior sources within the British government have also begun expressing deep concerns about the Americans' handling of the developing crisis. They complained the Bush administration had not fully accepted the need to foster a wider peace settlement in the Middle East - particularly over the Israeli issue - before launching a massive military incursion on an Arab state.
"The peace process can't be left out of the equation, it has to be part of the equation,'' one high-ranking insider was quoted as saying. "We can't see the two issues in isolation. In Washington there is a bit too much of a belief that things will sort themselves out on their own. We have to see full engagement on the US side.''
Tony Blair has stood by Bush as he prepared the dramatic extension to his war on terrorism, and it is expected that British troops will be involved in the action. But sources close to Downing Street last night suggested that Britain will lobby for a delay until there is a cast-iron commitment to a wide-ranging peace deal.
READY FOR WAR? PAGE 11
http://www.scotlandonsunday.com/international.cfm?id=842042002
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878