Olympics Notebook: Valerie Adams celebrates late Olympics gold
BY Associated Press
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
8/14/12 at 3:16 AM
New Zealand shot putter Valerie Adams says she will not "waste energy" thinking of Nadzeya Ostapchuk after receiving the gold medal at the London Olympics.
Ostapchuk, of Belarus, lost the gold because of a positive doping test.
Adams was defending her Olympic title when she finished second to Ostapchuk in the final of the women's event on Aug. 6.
Ostapchuk's disqualification, announced on Monday, awards Adams back-to-back golds to go with her three world championship titles.
Adams told New Zealand media in a conference call from her training base in Switzerland that Ostapchuk, who won the gold medal by 66 centimeters, is now "history."
She says "what's happened has happened and what's my feeling towards her? None at all. I don't want to waste any energy on her."
Boudia's gold medal a step forward for U.S. diving: David Boudia knows about pressure. He spent the entire Beijing Olympics focusing on his diving competitions - probably a little too much.
He came home empty handed.
After that experience, he let go of the idea of winning medals above all else, and just focused on doing his best at the sport he picked up 11 years ago because his friend's father won some free lessons in an auction.
He came back from London with two medals clanking around his neck, representing a return to the Olympic success that eluded the United States for two cycles since Laura Wilkinson's surprise gold in Sydney.
How chill was Boudia? He remembers taking time to appreciate the crowd roaring, mostly for British diver Tom Daley, who had recently lost his father to cancer. He doesn't remember his winning dive.
"It's not every day you get to dive in front of 18,000 people," Boudia said. "It's crazy. I remember the swing, climbing up out of the pool and hearing the crowd."
Early on in the London Games, Boudia won a bronze in the synchronized platform event with Nicholas McCrory. Then on Saturday, he upset world champion Qiu Bo of China by less than two points to win his gold on the 10-meter platform.
The last American man to win gold in that event? Greg Louganis in 1988.
