Saturday saw LaGrange swimmer Kyle Gathof capture his and the state's second Gold Medal of the 2007 World Summer Games. On Friday, Gathof had teamed with Jason Slattum of Minnesota, Jonathan Wright of North Carolina and Peter Zaino of Virginia to claim Gold in the 4x50-meter Medley Relay, but on Saturday Gathof was all on his own in the 100-meter Freestyle, one of his best events.
Gathof did not disappoint his final race of the Games, out touching Rodolpho Alvarez of Venezuela by just :00.30 seconds, finishing in 1:27.22. Damien Wojciechoski of Poland won the Bronze Medal.
It was the second Gold and third medal overall for Gathof at the Games. He also captured a Silver Medal in the 4x40-meter Freestyle Relay on October. 4.
Gathof wasn't the only Medallist of the day for Kentucky, however. Lexington's Megan McCormick had two medal opportunities on Saturday and, like Gathof, saved her best race for last.
McCormick finished fifth in her division of the 100-meter Freestyle, her first race of the day. McCormick finished the race, won by Yuanyiuan Ou of China, in 1:38.98. But in the 50-meter Butterfly, who would not be denied her chance at an individual medal. McCormick closed her competition in the Games with a time of 0:54.80, easily outdistancing Yuen Tu Wong of Hong Kong for the Silver. Russia's Victoria Turkina won the Gold.
McCormick closes the Games with two medals — today's Silver and a Bronze Medal she won in the 4x50-meter Freestyle Relay.
The Kentucky basketball team that is representing Team USA at the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games fell in its second game of the Tournament, 17-13 to Great Britain.
The loss drops the team to 0-2 in the Tournament, but not out of medal contention. The first portion of the Tournament consists of round-robin pool play to determine seedings for the Medal Round.
In other non-medal happenings, Russellville gymnast Lee Dockins saw her first competition of the Games in the Women's Artistic Gymnastics preliminaries. Dockins scored 2.102 in the vault, 1.962 in the bars, 1.850 on beam and 1.950 in the floor exercise for a preliminary score of 7.774. She will enter the finals in fourth place in her division, easily in medal contention.
Both Kentucky bowlers will have their second chances at medals as Andrew Browning of Lexington and Elizabethtown's Jessica Haggerty will compete in the Doubles competition that will get underway at 9 pm tonight (Eastern Time — 9 am in Shanghai).
The Kentucky basketball team completes pool play against Serbia in a game that will begin at 1:45 am eastern (1:45 pm in Shanghai). Serbia leads the division with a record of 2-0.
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