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26 September 2000
Before the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Ivan Ivankov of Belarus was hailed as the world's finest gymnast.
But the double world all-round champion failed to find a place on the podium when the men's events finished on Monday.
A four-year-long battle with a torn Achilles tendon had clearly taken its toll and Ivankov missed the bronze in the all-round by less than two-tenths of a point.
In event finals he gave two strong performances but placed fifth on rings, missing third by 0.037, and on Monday was fifth on parallel bars, 0.025 points from third.
For most of the 11 days of Olympic gymnastics the normally gracious 25-year-old had kept a positive outlook and took time to compliment his rivals.
But on Monday, after his last chance for a medal had faded, the grim look on Ivankov's face revealed extreme disappointment.
"Of course I expected to win a medal, but it doesn't matter. I'm happy to compete anyway," he said. "I'm not happy about medals, but the performance was good."
Ivankov, who emerged on the international scene by winning the 1994 world title, can take comfort from the fact that he even competed in Sydney.
He missed the 1996 Games, where he was a strong favourite, after his right Achilles tendon snapped 10 days before the Games started.
After two operations and months of painful rehabilitation he came back to win the 1997 world title.
But despite his dominance in the all-round from 1997-1998, Ivankov's Achilles still bothered him.
After his 1997 worlds victory he had two more Achilles operations, the most recent only 10 months ago. The injury had weakened him on floor exercise and vault, the events that demand the most of the legs.
None of this dampened expectations of gold and the US magazine Sports Illustrated put him on its cover painted in gold with the headline "The world's best gymnast".
Nemov grabs spotlight
But the big story of men's gymnastics in Sydney was Russia's Alexei Nemov.
Nemov, a close friend of Ivankov's, won five medals at the 1996 Olympics but had since seemed to battle a waning work ethic. Nemov said he decided to train seriously for the 2000 Olympics in July, and ended up with the all-round gold, a team bronze and four event medals.
The twist of fate wasn't lost on Nemov.
"I am glad I have a friend like Ivan who has not broken down. He performed very well until the very end," Nemov said. "I believe he deserved a medal, a gold medal, but he was just plain unlucky."
Heidi Pederson
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