Collins puts St Kitts and Nevis
on sporting map
Kim Collins put the tiny Caribbean islands of St Kitts and Nevis on the sporting map on Saturday when he won a dramatic men's 100 metres final at the Commonwealth Games, in which the two favourites finished in agony.
The race, the most eagerly-awaited clash at the Games which opened on Thursday, was billed as a showdown between two English rivals -- teenager Mark Lewis-Francis and Dwain Chambers who has beaten Olympic and world champion Maurice Greene twice this season.
But both Englishmen pulled up in the second half of the race with injuries, allowing Collins to steal the show and clinch his country -- two small dots near Antigua on a world map -- their first gold medal in the 72-year-old history of the Games.
St Kitts and Nevis, with a population of just 40,000, only gained independence from Britain in 1983 when Collins was seven.
The victory in 9.98 seconds marked the sprinter's first high-profile title after he became the first athlete from his country to make Olympic and world finals at the 2000 Sydney Games and 2001 world championships in Edmonton, Canada.
The U.S.-based 26-year-old was involved in a fierce battle with Lewis-Francis until the 60-metre mark before the teenager suddenly started to struggle with a leg injury. Chambers also slowed down with a leg injury in the last 30 metres.
Both Englishmen ground to a halt to cross the line at jogging speed with Lewis-Francis seventh and Chambers eighth.
Lewis-Francis was in so much pain he collapsed on the track, holding his face in agony and had to be stretchered away.
DISAPPOINTMENT
It was a major disappointment for the enthusiastic English fans in the 38,000 crowd who created a superb atmosphere at the athletics stadium for the second consecutive day of competition.
"The fans wanted to hear that England would win. They didn't want to hear that someone from St Kitts and Nevis was going to win. They probably haven't even heard of St Kitts and Nevis," Collins said.
Collins became a national hero and the most identifiable person from the islands when he was third in the 200 at last year's world championships in Canada. The gold medal will enhance his country's position in the sports world further.
"The island is very small and doesn't get much exposure but I hope this just shows that no matter how big your country is or where you come from, you can achieve anything if you work hard," he said.
"I know when I go home it is going to be wild."
Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas completed a superb night for the Caribbean -- which has produced many world-class sprinters -- when she won her first major title in the women's 100.
AUSTRALIAN SWEEP
Australia are the most successful nation at the Games which brings together 72 nations from the group of largely former British colonies.
Former double World Cup mountain biking champion Cadel Evans led an Australian clean sweep of the medals in the men's cycling individual time trial with Michael Rogers winning the silver and Nathan O'Neill taking the bronze.
At the pool England's Peter Waterfield and Leon Taylor denied Canada's Alexandre Despatie an unprecedented third diving gold at a single Games with a spectacular one-two finish on the 10-metre platform.
Waterfield won the gold in a desperately close battle, with Taylor and Despatie taking silver and bronze and less than a point separating the three after 11 dives.
Canada maintained their remarkable run of winning every synchronised swimming title at the Games when they achieved an emphatic victory in the duet.
Claire Carver-Dias, winner of Friday's solo event, claimed her second gold with partner Fanny Letourneau.
