Pedroso overcomes problems to make big leap

World long jump champion Ivan Pedroso of Cuba overcame timing problems to leap 8.52 metres, the third best jump in the world this year, and ageless Johnny Gray won another Pan American Games gold Sunday 12 years after his first.

Pedroso fouled on his first two attempts before taking command with a leap of 8.08 metres. After another foul, he jumped 8.43 before wrapping up the competition with a final jump of 8.52.

Kareem Steete-Thompson, representing the Cayman Islands, sailed 8.12 metres on his final attempt to take the silver.

The 39-year-old Gray scored an emotional victory over defending champion Norberto Tellez of Cuba in the men's 800 metres. Gray fought off World Student Games winner Tellez down the stretch to triumph in a Pan Am Games' record 1:45.38 to claim his second gold in the event. The first came in 1987 at the games in Indianapolis. A disappointed Tellez was two-hundredths of a second behind Gray in the photo finish.

"I got him today because I'm fresher," said Gray, the U.S. record-holder who has run sparingly this year because of injuries.

"Winning was far from a lot of people's minds, but not mine," said Gray, who failed last month to make the U.S. world championship team. "Now I know I'm ready to run (in Europe)."

U.S. sprinter Bernard Williams ended another long drought when he roared to victory in the men's 100 metres in 10.08 seconds as Princess Anne of Great Britain looked on. The United States had not won gold in a men's sprint event at the Pan American Games since 1987.

"It's been a long time since I got a win under my belt," said Williams, who ranked only 10th among U.S. sprinters last year and was seventh in this year's American championships.

Again a Cuban finished second in the heated race between the two countries for medals supremacy at the games. Freddy Mayola clocked 10.10 seconds for the silver with Claudinei da Silva of Brazil taking bronze in 10.13. Osleidys Menendez of Cuba extended the javelin mark to 65.85 metres (216 feet).

Brazil's Vanderlei Lima dominated the men's marathon, winning in 2:17.20.

Chandra Sturrup gave the Bahamas its first-ever Pan Am athletics gold, overtaking U.S. college champion Angela Williams to win the women's 100 in 11.10.

Chris Huffins, the two-time U.S. champion in the decathlon, set a Games record in beating teammate Daniel Steele by 100 points with a score of 8,170 points.

The score was one of Huffins' worst in years, and he blamed it on the officials, claiming some races were run in the wrong wind direction to accommodate television. #

"What they did for the cameras didn't help the scores at all,'' he said. ``My score is not indicative of the efforts I put in.''

In the other women's events, Letitia Vriesde won the 800 for Surinam's first-ever athletics gold at the games, upsetting American Meredith Rainey Valmon; Mexico's Ana Guevera took the 400; Erika Olivera became the first Chilean marathoner to win a Pan Am medal with a games record 2:37:41; Mexico's Adriana Fernandez won her second straight 5,000 title; Argentina's Alejandra Garcia took the games' first pole vault for women; and Osleidys Menendez of Cuba won the javelin at 65.84 metres (216-0), also a Pan Am record.

Reuters and AP for the IAAF

Results from Day 2 (Sunday):

Men's marathon
1. Vanderlei Lima (Brazil) two hours, 17 minutes, 20 seconds 2. R. D. Maza (Venezuela) 2:19:56 3. Eder Fialho (Brazil) 2:20:09 4. Franklin Temorio (Ecuador 2:20:19 5. Darrell General (U.S.) 2:23:58 6. Joe McVeigh (U.S.) 2:27:49 7. Eddy Bathalien (Haiti) 2:49:48 (only finishers)
Women's marathon
1. Erika Olivera (Chile) 2:37:41 2. Iglandini Gonzalez (Colombia) 2:40:06 3. Viviany Oliveira (Brazil) 2:40:55 4. Maria Flores (Chile) 2:43:59 5. Patricia Jardon (Mexico) 2:44:52 6. Maria Reyna (Mexico) 2:50:30 7. Jennifer Crain (U.S.) 2:54:19 8. Gina Coello (Honduras) 3:00:17
Women's javelin
1. Osleidys Menendez (Cuba) 65.85 metres 2. Xiomara Rivera (Cuba) 62.46 3. Lauern Eve (Bahamas) 61.24 4. Moya Sabina (Colombia) 55.86 5. Lynda Blutreich (U.S.) 55.77 6. Sueli Santos (Brazil) 52.58 7. Olivia McKoy (Jamaica) 49.29 8. Cassandra Morelock (U.S.) 48.34
Women's 800 metres
1. Letitia Vriesde (Surnam) one minute, 59.95 seconds 2. Zulia Calatayud (Cuba) 2:00.67 3. Meredith Valmon (U.S.) 2:01.51 4. Vicky Lynch-Pounds (Canada) 2:02.78 5. Diane Cummins (Canada) 2:03.10 6. Yanelis Lara (Cuba) 2:03.32 7. Delia Castro (Mexico) 2:05.06 (only finishers)
Men's 3000m steeplechase
1. Joel Bourgeois (Canada) 8:35.03 2. Francis O'Neill (U.S.) 8:35.73 3. Jean-Nicolas Duval (Canada) 8:39.52 4. Robert Gary (U.S.) 8:56.01 5. Johnny Loria (Costa Rica) 9:06.16 (only finishers)
Men's 800 metres
1. Johnny Gray (U.S.) one minute, 45.38 seconds 2. Norberto Tellez (Cuba) 1:45:40 3. Zach Whitmarsh (Canada) 1:45.94 4. Kenroy Levy (Jamaica) 1:46.86 5. Darryl Fillion (Canada) 1:47.63 6. Mario Watson (Jamaica) 1:48.19 7. Trinity Townsend (U.S.) 1:51.88 8. Ian Roberts (Guyana) 2:13.22
Women's 5,000 metres
1. Andriana Fernandez (Mexico) 15:56.67 2. Bertha Sanchez (Colombia) 15:59.04 3. Blake Phillips (U.S.) 15:59.77 4. Nora Rocha (Mexico) 16:07.78
5. Kristin Ihle (U.S.) 16:14.07 6. Stella Castro (Colombia) 16:21.92 7. Janeth Caizalitin (Ecuador) 16:28.66 (only finishers)
Women's 100 metres
1. Chandra Sturrup (Bahamas) 11.10 seconds 2. Angela Williams (U.S.) 11.16 3. Peta Gaye-Dowdie (Jamaica) 11.20 4. Virgen Benavides (Cuba) 11.28 5. Philomena Mensah (Canada) 11.28 6. Lucimar Moura (Brazil) 11.29 7. Beverley Grant (Jamaica) 11.53 8. Liliana Allen (Mexico) 11.66
Men's 100 metres
1. Bernard Williams (U.S.) 10.08 2. Freddy Mayola (Cuba) 10.10 3. Claudinei da Silva (Brazil) 10.13 4. Tim Harden (U.S.) 10.19 5. Andre da Silva (Brazil) 10.21 6. Patrick Jarrett (Jamaica) 10.23 7. Luis Perez (Cuba) 10.27 8. Brad McCuaig (Canada) 10.31
Women's 400 metres
1. Ana Guevara (Mexico) 50.91 seconds 2. Michelle Collins (U.S.) 51.21 3. Claudine Williams (Jamaica) 51.58 4. Andrea Anderson (U.S.) 52.43
5. Melissa Straker (Barbados) 52.90 6. Norfalia Carabali (Colombia) 53.06 7. Foy Williams (Canada) 53.65 (only finishers)
Men's 400 metres
1. Gregory Haughton (Jamaica) 44.59 2. Danny McCray (U.S.) 44.83 3. Manuel Cardenas (Mexico) 44.92 4. Sanderlei Parrela (Brazil) 44.93
5. Neil De Silva (Trinidad) 45.42 6. Troy McIntosh (Bahamas) 45.60 7. Anderson Santos (Brazil) 45.77 8. Avard Moncur (Bahamas) 45.91
Men's decathlon
1. Chris Huffins (U.S.) 8,170 points 2. Dan Steele (U.S.) 8.070 3. Raul Duany (Cuba) 7,730 4. Eugenio Balanque (Cuba) 6,865 5. Santiago Lorenzo (Argentina) 6,820 (only finishers)
Women's pole vault
1. Alejandra Garcia (Argentina) 4.30 metres 2. Kellie Suttle (U.S.) 4.25 3. Deborah Gyurcsek (Uruguay) 4.15 4. Kim Becker (U.S.) 3.90
5. Rebecca Chambers (Canada) 3.90 6. Trista Bernier (Canada) 3.70 7. Lorena Espinoza (Mexico) 3.60 8. Alejandra Meza (Mexico) 3.60
Men's long jump
1. Ivan Pedroso (Cuba) 8.52 2. Kareem Streete-Thompson (Cayman Islands) 8.12 3. Luis Meliz (Cuba) 8.06 4. Richard Duncan (Canada) 8.01
5. Nelson Ferreira (Brazil) 7.77 6. Maurice Wignall (Jamaica) 7.73 7. Dwight Phillips (U.S.) 7.68 8. Savante Stringfellow (U.S.) 7.67