Commonwealth Games: Christie record falls to golden Boldon
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Your support makes all the difference.ATO BOLDON shattered Linford Christie's Commonwealth Games record to win the 100 metres title yesterday as England struck gold through the heptathlete Denise Lewis, the swimmers Katy Sexton and Susan Rolph and the discus thrower Bob Weir.
Boldon, who only decided last weekend to compete in Malaysia, clocked 9.88sec to take 0.03secs off the record set by Christie in Victoria four years ago. Namibia's Frankie Fredericks, another who planned to stay away, was second in 9.96, with Obadele Thompson of the Bahamas third in 10.00.
Lewis successfully retained her heptathlon crown. The European champion took the title by a massive winning margin of 159 points with an overall total of 6,513.
Before Lewis completed the formality of retaining her title, Weir broke the Games record to grab England's first athletics gold medal of the Games.
The Birmingham-born Weir took the title with a winning throw of 64.42m which broke the 16-year-old record set by Bradley Cooper of the Bahamas by 38 centimetres.
Weir, who is a throws coach at Stanford University in California, became the first Englishman to win the discus gold in the 68-year history of the Games.
Sexton, England's teenage swimming sensation, came from nowhere to strike gold, destroying her personal best for the second time in a dramatic day at the 200m backstroke.
The 16-year-old from Portsmouth allowed favourite Helen Don-Duncan and Australia's Meredith Smith to battle between themselves for much of a tense race only to win herself in 2:13.18.
Rolph toasted double gold for England with the victory she had predicted over 50m freestyle to supplement her opening-day win at twice the distance. The Newcastle 20-year-old sprinted to a narrow success, clocking 25.82 to defeat Scotland's Alison Sheppard by a mere tenth of a second.
England's James Hickman collected his second silver of the Games with a brave victory bid at the 200m individual medley.
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