Long time coming
ATHENS — Martina Navratilova has collected 58 Grand Slam titles, but had never collected Olympic pins. She has dined in thousands of the best restaurants across the globe, but never stood in line with a tray in the Olympic Village cafeteria. She had met every famous tennis player in the modern era, but never had the chance to gab for 45 minutes with an Olympic wrestling champion.
So, if she seems a bit giddy about her first Olympic experience, you’ll have to forgive her.
Navratilova, two months shy of her 48th birthday, became the oldest tennis player to win an Olympic match on Sunday when she and doubles partner Lisa Raymond knocked off Tatiana Perebiynis and Yulia Beygelzimer of Ukraine 6-0, 6-2. Their win ended a good day for American tennis. Venus Williams and Chanda Rubin advanced, as did Andy Roddick.
After her victory, Navratilova talked about the Opening Ceremonies, signing autographs for fellow Olympians, her gabfest with wrestler Rulon Gardner and her respect for gymnasts — “It’s amazing to see these little people tumble around. They are so little.”
Navratilova said walking into the Opening Ceremonies was everything she anticipated it would be.
“I was just looking around, trying to take it all in, remembering all the Opening Ceremonies I’ve watched since 1964,” Navratilova said. “That’s the first one I remember. It was fun to be part of it. I think what I got the biggest kick out of was doing the wave in the gymnastics hall when we were all sitting there waiting.”
Iranian athlete under investigation
International judo officials are investigating whether a two-time champion from Iran who reportedly said he wouldn’t fight an Israeli opponent deliberately avoided the bout by showing up overweight.
Arash Miresmaeili, a favorite in the under 146-pound (66kg) class, was declared overweight at the morning weigh-in and disqualified for his first-round bout against Ehud Vaks.
After Thursday’s draw, the Iranian press agency IRNA quoted Miresmaeili as saying: “I refused to play against an Israeli rival to sympathize with the oppressed Palestinian people.”
Iran does not recognize Israel and bans any contact with the Jewish state.
The International Judo Federation met to consider the circumstances around the disqualification and will meet again today, said federation spokesman Michel Brousse.
Plenty of seats available
In the Olympic tennis stadium, Venus Williams’ grunts echoed loudly off several thousand empty seats. There were so few people at the gymnastics preliminaries that it looked like a high school meet.
Across Athens, on the opening weekend of the Olympics, the scene was the same: Wrestlers grappled in front of only a few hundred fans, archers had the old Olympic stadium nearly to themselves and softball was played before a backdrop of empty stands.
So far, the Olympics are a box-office bust.
“I watched it on TV and when you looked in the background, you were like, ‘Wow, it’s the Olympics and nobody is there,’ ” former gymnast Bart Conner said.
High winds wreak havoc
Whitecaps tossed and capsized at least 30 sailboats in competition. Shade umbrellas rolled, tumbleweed-style, across Olympic tennis courts. Volunteers scrambled to grab fencing blown down at the cycling road course.
Greece’s notorious Meltemi wind, with its 20-mph currents and 32-mph gusts, had arrived.
At times, it took an Olympic champion’s focus and determination just to cross the street. The locals, though, insist the Meltemi is nothing to fear.
“This should last about 48 hours,” Greek meteorologist Theodoros Kolidas said. “We expect this every year.”
Five Olympics for Spaniard
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario became the first tennis player to compete in five Olympics. Sanchez Vicario, 32, and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain were beaten 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2 by seventh-seeded Paola Suarez and Patricia Tarabini of Argentina in doubles play.