15th August 2006 11:00
If anyone was the real winner of Göteborg 2006, it wasn't an athlete, or a nation, it was the city itself.
'Sweden rocks!' No, not a reference to some new Scandinavian heavy metal outfit, nor a description of the tumultuous celebrations that kicked off in the Ullevi stadium last week following the victories of Carolina Klüft, Susanna Kallur and Christian Olsson, but a text message from a TV viewer watching the opening ceremony of the 19th European Athletics Championships back in the UK.
And Sweden did 'rock', or, to be more accurate, Göteborg 'rocked'. For if anyone was the real winner of Göteborg 2006, it wasn't a athlete, or a nation, it was the city itself.The day before the championships began Claes Bjerkne, of Göteborg & Co, had promised 'the biggest sporting and entertainment experience in Sweden for a decade'. 'We cannot let the championships stop at the gates of the stadium,' confirmed EAA President Hansjörg Wirz.
And they didn't. Every day thousands of people flooded into the city's streets, bars, parks and squares to sample the 'EM experience', filling the city with a festival fever.
In the Ullevi stadium itself, even the bad weather couldn't dampen the atmosphere as some 30,000 people turned up for evening sessions, the vast majority wearing or waving the famous yellow and blue of the host nation.
They weren't disappointed. Klüft, Kallur and Olsson delivered world class performances to bring Sweden three gold medals, as many as it won in Munich four years ago and three more than in 1995 when Göteborg played host to the world championships. Along with Johan Wissman's 200m silver and two high jump bronze medals, the golden trio contributed to the host nation's biggest medal haul at a European Athletics Championships since 1946.
What's more, Klüft's victory came with a championship record, one of 10 to fall throughout the week, two of which led to the Swedish fans' only disappointments, the defeats of high jump favourites Stefan Holm and Kajsa Bergqvist. Both lost to brilliant performances from unheralded athletes, as Andrey Silnov of Russia and Tia Hellebaut of Belgium leapt higher than they had ever done before, and higher than anyone had done at a European Athletics Championships.
Five of the championship records fell to Russian athletes, one of whom, Yelena Isinbayeva, completed a ‘grand slam' of major titles by adding the European to her world and Olympic pole vault crowns. Lithuania's discus thrower Virgilijus Alekna also completed a full set, while Klüft's victory was the first in her second cycle of senior championship victories.
Once Eunice Barber pulled out of the heptathlon, Klüft retained her title with remarkable ease, potential injury providing her only real opposition. Other European champions who retained their titles in Göteborg included Mehdi Baala of France in the men's 1500m, Israel's Alex Averbukh in the pole vault, Olsson in the triple jump, the Czech Republic's Roman Sebrle in the decathlon and Spain's Francisco Fernandez in the men's 20km walk and Marta Dominguez in the women's 5000m.
Strictly speaking Francis Obikwelu also retained his title when he won the men's 100m, although the Portuguese sprinter won't see it like that. Of more importance to him is that he lived up to his promise of winning the European sprint double, the first man to do so since Italy's Pietro Mennea in 1978.
Obikwelu's dominance of the men's sprints was one of the features of the week, while Kim Gevaert's matching achievement in winning the women's 100m and 200m was just as impressive. Gevaert, like Obikwelu, finished second twice in Munich, and returned to turn silver into gold on two occasions. Along with Hellebaut, ‘princess Kim' - dubbed ‘the Audrey Hepburn of the track' - contributed to Belgium's greatest ever week in athletics history.
Similarly, Alesya Turava's victory in the first ever women's 3000m steeplechase contributed to a record medal haul for Belarus. It also completed the first ever brace of victories for sisters at a European Athletics Championships following Ryta Turava's gold in the 20km walk. Together with wins for Natallia Khoroneko in the women's shot and Ivan Tikhon in the men's hammer, the Turava sisters helped Belarus finish third in the medal table.
Not surprisingly that table was dominated by Russia, which finished with 34 medals, 10 more than in 2002, 12 of them gold. As well as victories for their big name athletes, such as Isinbayeva, Tatyana Lebedeva (triple jump), Tatyana Lysenko (hammer) and Tatyana Tomashova (1500m), Russia enjoyed some unexpected winners such as Silnov, Inga Abitova (10000m) and Darya Pishchalnikova (discus).
Germany's second place in the medal table is a greater surprise as they arrived in Göteborg with their hopes resting on Kirsten Bolm's ability to challenge Kallur in the 100m hurdles, and their veteran discus throwers Franka Dietzsch and Lars Riedel. Bolm and Dietzsch both ended up with silvers, but Germany came away with four golds thanks to Steffi Nerius in the javelin, Ralf Bartels in the shot and most unexpected yet thrilling victories from Jan Fitschen in the men's 10,000m and Ulrike Maisch in the women's marathon.
In fact, the distance finals gave us some of the moments of the championships. They may not have been run at the blistering speeds we've come to expect from African dominated record chases, but the 5000m, 10000m and 3000m steeplechase finals as well as both marathons provided races that displayed the highest quality competition and nail-bitingly close finishes.
And in the end, that's what championships are about. That and a festival spirit that spills out of the stadium gates and into the streets and bars of the host city. In that respect Göteborg took the gold.