Martirosyan batters Algerian for U.S. win

.c The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Armenian-born American Vanes Martirosyan
battered Algeria’s Benamar Meskine during a 45-20 points victory in
the 69-kilogram class Sunday at the Olympic boxing competition.

The win gives the American a second-round match with Cuba’s Lorenzo
Aragon.

“I finished like a champion,” said Martirosyan, 18. “I could have
won another four rounds, to tell you the truth. I felt so good out
there.”

Martirosyan showed the power and flair of a contender, dictating the
fight’s pace with a stiff jab and opportunistic combinations. He also
counterpunched effectively while landing more shots to the head than
almost any competitor.

Martirosyan was one fight from elimination at the U.S. team trials in
February, but the two top contenders were disqualified when Andre
Berto threw Juan McPherson to the canvas, injuring McPherson’s
neck. McPherson was medically disqualified, and Berto was banned for
his actions.

Although he caught a lucky break, Martirosyan made the most of it by
earning an Olympic spot in the ensuing qualifying tournaments. Berto
made the Olympics on Haiti’s team.

Martirosyan hoped to meet Berto later in the draw, but Berto was
beaten 36-34 in the evening session by France’s Xavier Noel, a former
world champion.

Berto, whose parents are Haitian, fought well and nearly rallied from
a nine-point deficit in the fourth round, but Noel apparently hung
on. The decision was loudly jeered by fans.

In other bouts, Egypt’s Mohamed Hikal beat Afghanistan’s only boxer at
the games, Basharmal Sultani, 40-12 in the 69-kilogram class. In the
second welterweight class of the night, Oleg Saitov of Russia, trying
to win his third straight Olympic gold, beat Moroccan Miloud Ait Hammi
30-15.

08/15/04 17:40 EDT

rticle_id=c512c58caf10a4ad57ffeead1b61891d

Armeni ans Must Raise Their Voices For Truth and Justice in Sudan
Armenian Weekly (Watertown, Mass.), Commentary,
Jason Sohigian, Aug 15, 2004

Although the U.S. State Department and even the United Nations have
hesitated to call the continuing atrocities in the Darfur region of western
Sudan a genocide, the US Congress unanimously passed a resolution last month
declaring that the events unfolding there are genocide, and urged the Bush
administration to do the same.

The wavering of the UN may be because the Genocide Convention of 1948
obligates the international community to take the complicated step of
“preventing and punishing” acts that it has declared as genocide; also, the
body recognizes the dangers of trivializing the act by applying the term to
situations that may not fully meet the criteria.

Yet, already at least 30,000 civilians have been killed and up to one
million displaced since groups from the Darfur region took up arms over what
they regard as unjust treatment by the government in their struggle with
Arab countrymen over land and resources. The government- armed militia,
called Janjaweed, began attacking Darfur villages in retaliation.

However, regardless of the terminology, with killings of this magnitude it
is imperative that the UN and the US work with the international community
to stop it immediately by using economic and arms embargoes against those
that supply the Janjaweed, deploying troops from other African states, and
applying sanctions and other means to pressure those responsible.

The Armenian community has a special responsibility to speak out on this
issue. Past instances of genocide, including the brutal murders of 1.5
million Armenians, were not prevented–even when the massacres taking place
were well known to the outside world–because the international community
failed to act.

As Gary Bass, author of Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War
Crimes Tribunals, noted in an interview with the Armenian Weekly, “There is
more of a sense for communities in the US who are sensitive to the issue of
genocide–such as Rwandans, Jews, or Armenians living here–about the
reality of genocide and of what it means to be abandoned when you are dying
in the hundreds of thousands and no one cares.”

Similarly, in The Banality of Denial: Israel and the Armenian Genocide, Yair
Auron has written about the importance of the Israeli viewpoint concerning
acts of genocide, because of the Jewish experience in the Holocaust.

As a result of the work of the International Association of Genocide
Scholars and others, the term genocide and the weight of its meaning have
become known to a wide segment of the public, and important issues
concerning genocide are now being discussed in the media and by the
international community.

The U.N. is to be commended for its appointment last month of Juan Mendez to
the new position of Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide. Mendez is
an Argentine human rights lawyer and one-time political prisoner under the
military regime that ruled his country in the 1970s.

Whether or not Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Bush administration
have the inclination or ability to follow the lead of the US Congress on
Sudan, Secretary-General Kofi Annan must work with Mendez and others without
delay to prevent genocide–before it is too late once again.

Related Stories:

Recognition of Armenian Genocide Increasing Despite White House Opposition
Armenian-Americans Say U.S. Trade Decision Will Hurt Homeland

New York Daily News, NY
Aug 15 2004

Resource enhanced

$3M expansion for Holocaust center

By DONALD BERTRAND
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Eduardo Marti, president of Queensborough Community College, shows
off model of new Holocaust Resource Center and Archives, currently
housed in basement of library on Bayside campus.

For 20 years, the Holocaust Resource Center and Archives has been
housed in the basement of the library building at Queensborough
Community College in Bayside.
Now, thanks to a $3 million allocation in the state budget secured by
Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose), the center will be able to almost
double its size in a new location – and become a centerpiece of the
campus.

“What we are trying to do is take the Holocaust Resource Center from
the basement of the library and put it at the forefront of our
campus,” said Queensborough President Eduardo Marti.

“I am delighted that the state has approved the CUNY request to fund
the relocation and expansion.”

The $3 million will be used to renovate a portion of the
administration building that is now a mailroom and duplicating room,
along with a loading dock.

A glass-enclosed lobby will be built out from where the loading dock
is now located.

“It will be a very visible and striking facility,” said the college’s
president.

Marti, a Cuban who fled the island when he was 19, said he has had
personal experience with the evils of prejudice.

The new center, he declared, would be a “wonderful education vehicle
to teach about what unbridled prejudice can result in.”

“I believe that by bringing the Holocaust Resource Center to a
prominent location on campus, we will be able to utilize this
facility as a vivid example and laboratory where we can teach about
what can result when you have unbridled prejudice.”

Padavan said that “studying the Holocaust and other acts of genocide
around the world throughout history is vital to understanding and
preventing these types of brutalities in the future – and to stopping
them in the present.”

The senator noted that the Holocaust Center works with schools
throughout the state to develop curricula to study the Holocaust and
other acts of genocide, such as the killings in Armenia, Cambodia and
the Sudan. State education law requires curricula that include
instruction and study of the Holocaust, Padavan said.

Marti said, “We are extremely grateful to Sen. Padavan for his
leadership in championing this important project through the
legislature and to Assemblyman [Mark] Weprin (D-Bayside) and the
entire Queens delegation for supporting this request.”

The borough president’s office and Councilman David Weprin (D-Hollis)
also have provided funding, Marti said.

“For the 20 years of its existence, [the center] has been kept going
through the good offices of Dr. [William] Shulman, who is a retired
professor of our college, and a cadre of volunteers – most of them
survivors of the Holocaust,” said Marti.

The hope now, he added, is to use the enhanced prominence of the
center to be able to build an endowment so that the center can
operate in perpetuity.

“So that forever we will be able to serve the mission of educating
not only our own students but also high school students and even
elementary school students about the horrors of the Holocaust,” Marti
said.

Sports Features Communications (press release), FL
Aug 15 2004

BOXING: Martirosyan Steps into the Ring For the First Time at the
Olympic Games

ATHENS, GREECE – Only nine months ago, welterweight (152 lbs/69 kg)
Vanes Martirosyan (Glendale, Calif.) could not have dreamed of what
he would be doing on Sunday, August 15. After winning four straight
qualifying tournaments in the months of February and March,
Martirosyan earned a spot on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team and
his dream became a reality. The 18-year-old will step into the ring
for the first time at the Olympic Games on Sunday to take on Benamar
Meskine of Algeria.

He will be the second U.S. boxer to compete, following middleweight
Andre Dirrell, who recorded a 25-18 victory over China’s Dabateer Ha
on Saturday. Martirosyan will be facing Meskine for the first time on
Sunday afternoon, but the young boxer is confident. He will be the
only U.S. boxer competing on Sunday and will be followed by
lightweight (132 lbs/60 kg) Vicente Escobedo (Woodland, Calif.) and
flyweight (112 lbs/51 kg) Ron Siler (Cincinnati, Ohio) on Monday and
Tuesday respectively.

Martirosyan should enjoy a large cheering section with several
members of family traveling from Glendale to support him as well as
one of his coaches Bobby Lee of Reno. Martirosyan was born in Armenia
but his family moved to California when he was only four-years-old.
He is hoping to use his opportunity to represent the United States in
the Olympic Games to thank the nation for welcoming his family.

Although the bout is his first in the Olympic Games, Martirosyan has
competed in the Peristeri Boxing Hall before, boxing in the Athens
Test Event in May where he won a bronze medal.

Martirosyan will be compete in the sixth bout of the afternoon
session, which will begin at 1:30 p.m. His bout is scheduled to begin
at approximately 2:45 p.m.

For more information, please contact Julie Goldsticker, boxing press
officer at (693) 677-2562.

Zaman, Turkey
Aug 15 2004

Armenians Tune into Tarkan, Arabs Sibel Can

Turkish songs are quite the rage in Halep, Syria’s second largest
city.

Savt-ul Suleymaniye/The Sound of Suleymaniye is a unique music store
that has been selling Turkish music in Halep’s Armenian Suleymaniye
district since 1976. When compared to the Turkmen districts of Halep,
the streets of Suleymaniye are modern and clean. It is as we were
walking down these streets that we happened up a music store covered
with posters of Turkish singers such as Tarkan, Sibel Can, and Nazan
Oncel.

Turkmen courier Fadi guessed that the owner is Turkmen; so it must be
in one of the villages near Kilis. We entered the small store and
were greeted by CDs and cassettes stacked to the ceiling. Whatever
you could possibly want, the store has. Gülden Karaböcek, Zeki Müren,
Emel Sayýn, Ümit Besen, Müslüm Gürses, Candan Erçetin, Tarkan, and
Davut Güloðlu to name a few.

Arab singers frequent Savt-ul Suleymaniye. Lebanese singer Iyad Sakar
reportedly asked the store to send a Serdar Ortac album to Beirut two
days ago.

Many Arab singers such as Sakar translate the Turkish songs they like
into Arabic. The Turkmen owner has an order list in front of him. An
Armenian planning to visit his daughter in America ordered 23 Turkish
albums. The owner, who enjoys introducing Turkish music to the
country, said, “I have lots to do, such as packing these after
copying.”

Athens2004 Official Website, Greece
Aug 15 2004

Men’s Welter (69kg) : Bouts 30 – 35

ATHENS, 15 August – Boxers in the hotly contested Welter Weight
(69kg) division have completed the afternoon session in the Olympic
tournament at the Peristeri Boxing Hall.

Armenian born Vanes MARTIROSYAN (USA) believes he can take the gold
medal, and he started his campaign strongly by beating the tough
Algerian Benamar MESKINE 45-20.

Two-time world champion, Lorenzo ARAGON ARMENTEROS (CUB), made his
return to Olympic boxing eight years after losing to Floyd MAYWEATHER
(USA) in the quarterfinals at Atlanta.

Against local hope, Theodoros KOSTAKOS (GRE), the lanky Cuban was
clinical and ruthless. The referee stopped the contest in round
three, by which time ARAGON ARMENTEROS had built a lead of 34-14.

He will have a tougher time against MARTIROSYAN in the next round.

In the third of the Welter Weight bouts in the afternoon session,
Ruslan KHAIROV (AZE) overpowered Adam TRUPISH (CAN), opening up a cut
on the bridge of the Canadian’s nose early in the third round with a
solid right cross.

The referee stopped the contest because of injury, on the advice of
the ring side doctor.

In the next bout Sadat TEBAZAALWA (UGA) was out boxed 29-17 by Silamu
HANATI (CHN) who progressed to the next round where he will clash
with KHAIROV.

Ellis CHIBUYE (ZAM) was brave, but no match for Bulent ULUSOY (TUR)
who took the decision 45-32 in the second last bout of the session.

The final bout saw World Championship silver medallist Sherzod
HUSANOV (UZB) knock Jean Carlos PRADA (VEN) to the canvas twice in
round two before winning a 33-20 decision.

HUSANOV will met ULUSOY in the next round.

AZERI CAMPAIGNER SLAMS IRAN FOR CLOSER TIES WITH ARMENIA, KARABAKH

Elci, Baku
15 Aug 04

entitled “Tehran recognizes Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity in
word” and subheaded “Iran’s activities serve to sever Karabakh from
Azerbaijan”

A new area of Iranian cooperation with Armenia will be upgrading the
telecommunication system in the occupied Azerbaijani territory of
Nagornyy Karabakh. A joint project has been drawn up.

Commenting on the issue, the chairman of the committee to protect the
rights of the National Revival Movement of Southern Azerbaijan
(northwestern Iran), Cahandar Bayoglu, told Olaylar that Iran had
signed numerous contracts with Armenia and the separatist leadership
of the self-proclaimed “Nagornyy Karabakh Republic”: “They envisage
communications and power supplies. By these obvious activities, Tehran
recognizes Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and Karabakh as an
integral part of Azerbaijan merely in words. However, actually, Iran
is against Azerbaijan’s statehood. This proves that despite some
positive statements by the Iranian president, Tehran’s policy is
against Azerbaijan. Iran’s activities serve to sever Nagornyy Karabakh
from Azerbaijan and bolster Armenia.”

Olympic Swimming Results

.c The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Results for Sunday’s Olympic swimming competition at
the Olympic Aquatic Center:

Men

100 Backstroke

Qualification

1. Tomomi Morita, Japan, 54.41 (Q).

2. Aaron Peirsol, United States, 54.65 (Q).

3. Laszlo Cseh, Hungary, 54.80 (Q).

4. Markus Rogan, Austria, 54.87 (Q).

4. Lenny Krayzelburg, United States, 54.87 (Q).

6. Steffen Driesen, Germany, 54.92 (Q).

7. Arkady Vyatchanin, Russia, 55.17 (Q).

8. Keng Liat Alex Lim, Malaysia, 55.22 (Q).

9. Matt Welsh, Australia, 55.35 (Q).

10. Kunpeng Ouyang, China, 55.50 (Q).

11. Marco di Carli, Germany, 55.58 (Q).

12. Gerhard Zandberg, South Africa, 55.62 (Q).

13. Simon Dufour, France, 55.76 (Q).

14. Gregor Tait, Britain, 55.77 (Q).

14. Razvan Ionut Florea, Zimbabwe, 55.77 (Q).

16. Gordan Kozulj, Croatia, 55.80 (Q).

17. Aristeidis Grigoriadis, Greece, 55.85.

17. Josh Watson, Australia, 55.85.

19. Evgeny Aleshin, Russia, 55.91.

20. Ryan Pini, Papua New Guinea, 55.97.

21. Pierre Roger, France, 56.07.

22. Cameron Gibson, New Zealand, 56.14.

23. Adam Mania, Poland, 56.20.

24. Darius Grigalionis, Lithuania, 56.21.

25. Nicholas Alfred Neckles, Barbados, 56.32.

26. Derya Buyukuncu, Turkey, 56.34.

27. Lubos Krizko, Slovakia, 56.62.

27. Volodymyr Nikolaychuk, Ukraine, 56.62.

27. Matt Rose, Canada, 56.62.

30. Sung Min, South Korea, 56.78.

31. Ahmed Hussein, Egypt, 56.86.

32. Paulo Machado, Brazil, 57.07.

33. Eduardo German Otero, Argentina, 57.28.

34. Peter Horvath, Hungary, 57.29.

35. Aschwin Wildeboer, Spain, 57.35.

36. Matti Maki, Finland, 57.57.

37. George Gleason, U.S. Virgin Islands, 57.64.

38. Christopher Vythoulkas, Bahamas, 58.31.

39. Brendan Ashby, Zimbabwe, 58.91.

40. Igor Beretic, Serbia-Montenegro, 59.38.

41. Stanislav Ossinkskiy, Kazakhstan, 59.92.

42. Alexandr Ivlev, Moldova, 1:00.13.

43. Danil Bugakov, Uzbekistan, 1:02.28.

44. Omar Abu Fares, Jordan, 1:02.36.

NR. Donnie Defreitas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, DNS.

Semifinals

1. Aaron Peirsol, United States, 54.34 (Q).

2. Markus Rogan, Austria, 54.42 (Q).

3. Tomomi Morita, Japan, 54.62 (Q).

4. Lenny Krayzelburg, United States, 54.63 (Q).

5. Steffen Driesen, Germany, 54.64 (Q).

6. Matt Welsh, Australia, 54.69 (Q).

7. Laszlo Cseh, Hungary, 54.86 (Q).

8. Marco di Carli, Germany, 55.03 (Q).

9. Arkady Vyatchanin, Russia, 55.20.

10. Razvan Ionut Florea, Romania, 55.27.

11. Ouyang Kunpeng, China, 55.28.

12. Gregor Tait, Britain, 55.31.

13. Gerhard Zandberg, South Africa, 55.76.

14. Gordan Kozulj, Croatia, 56.02.

15. Keng Liat Alex Lim, Malaysia, 56.08.

16. Simon Dufour, France, 56.15.

100 Breaststroke

Final

1. Kosuke Kitajima, Japan, 1:00.08.

2. Brendan Hansen, United States, 1:00.25.

3. Hugues Duboscq, France, 1:00.88.

4. Mark Gangloff, United States, 1:01.17.

5. Vladislav Polyakov, Kazakhstan, 1:01.34.

6. James Gibson, Britain, 1:01.36.

7. Darren Mew, Britain, 1:01.66.

8. Oleg Lisogor, Ukraine, 1:02.42.

200 Freestyle

Qualification

1. Ian Thorpe, Australia, 1:47.22 (Q).

2. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Netherlands, 1:47.32 (Q).

3. Emiliano Brembilla, Italy, 1:47.95 (Q).

4. Klete Keller, United States, 1:47.97 (Q).

5. Michael Phelps, United States, 1:48.43 (Q).

6. Simon Burnett, Britain, 1:48.68 (Q).

7. Grant Hackett, Australia, 1:48.90 (Q).

8. Jens Schreiber, Germany, 1:49.00 (Q).

9. Kvetoslav Svoboda, Czech Republic, 1:49.25 (Q).

10. Rick Say, Canada, 1:49.32 (Q).

11. Dominik Meichtry, Switzerland, 1:49.45 (Q).

12. George Bovell, Trinidad and Tobago, 1:49.48 (Q).

13. Yoshihiro Okumura, Japan, 1:49.54 (Q).

14. Brent Hayden, Canada, 1:49.56 (Q).

15. Andreas Zisimos, Greece, 1:49.60 (Q).

16. Andrey Kapralov, Russia, 1:49.91 (Q).

17. Olaf Wildeboer, Spain, 1:50.01. 18. Jacob Carstensen, Denmark, 1:50.15.

19. Stefan Herbst, Germany, 1:50.23.

20. Rodrigo Castro, Brazil, 1:50.27.

21. Saulius Binevicius, Lithuania, 1:50.50.

22. Peter Mankoc, Slovenia, 1:50.72.

23. Romans Miloslavskis, Latvia, 1:50.83.

24. Maxim Kuznetsov, Russia, 1:50.93.

25. Nicolas Rostoucher, France, 1:50.96.

26. Dominik Koll, Austria, 1:51.36.

27. Dmytro Vereitinov, Ukraine, 1:51.38.

28. Joshua Ilika Brenner, Mexico, 1:51.66.

29. Luis Monteiro, Portugal, 1:51.78.

30. Lukasz Drzewinski, Poland, 1:51.90.

31. Mihail Alexandrov, Bulgaria, 1:52.12.

32. Tamas Szucs, Hungary, 1:52.26.

33. Han Kyu-chul, South Korea, 1:52.28.

34. Damian Arthur Christopher Alleyne, Barbados, 1:52.89.

35. Aleksandar Malenko, Macedonia, 1:53.00.

35. Mahrez Mebarek, Algeria, 1:53.00.

37. Yahor Salabutau, Belarus, 1:53.03.

38. Albert Subirats Altes, Venezuela, 1:53.11.

39. Giancarlo Zolezzi, Chile, 1:53.18.

40. Juan Martin Pereyra, Argentina, 1:53.19.

40. Shaune Fraser, Cayman Islands, 1:53.19.

42. Miguel Molina, Philippines, 1:53.81.

43. Lin Zhang, China, 1:53.84.

44. Alexandros Aresti, Cyprus, 1:53.90.

45. Martin Kutscher, Uruguay, 1:53.91.

46. Andrea Beccari, Italy, 1:54.00.

47. Te Tung Chen, Taiwan, 1:54.14.

48. Igor Erhartic, Serbia-Montenegro, 1:54.21.

49. Stepan Pinciuc, Moldova, 1:54.56.

50. Anouar Ben Naceur, Tunisia, 1:54.69.

51. Jung Jun Mark Chay, Singapore, 1:54.70.

52. Aytekin Mindan, Turkey, 1:55.65.

53. Adil Bellaz, Morocco, 1:55.79.

54. Mario Delac, Croatia, 1:55.82.

55. Vitaliy Khan, Kazakhstan, 1:56.11.

56. Diego Mularoni, San Marino, 1:56.18.

57. Petr Vasilev, Uzbekistan, 1:56.93.

58. Zurab Khomasuridze, Georgia, 1:58.02.

59. Ruslan Ismailov, Kyrgyzstan, 2:01.53.

Semifinals

1. Pieter van den Hoogenband, Netherlands, 1:46.00 (Q).

2. Ian Thorpe, Australia, 1:46.65 (Q).

3. Michael Phelps Iii, United States, 1:47.08 (Q).

4. Klete Keller, United States, 1:47.28 (Q).

5. Grant Hackett, Australia, 1:47.61 (Q).

6. Simon Burnett, Britain, 1:47.72 (Q).

7. Emiliano Brembilla, Italy, 1:47.93 (Q).

8. Rick Say, Canada, 1:48.16 (Q).

9. Kvetoslav Svoboda, Czech Republic, 1:49.27.

10. Yoshihiro Okumura, Japan, 1:49.49.

11. George Bovell, Trinidad and Tobago, 1:49.59.

12. Andreas Zisimos, Greece, 1:49.76.

13. Brent Hayden, Canada, 1:50.00.

14. Dominik Meichtry, Switzerland, 1:50.02.

15. Olaf Wildeboer, Spain, 1:50.61.

16. Andrey Kapralov, Russia, 1:51.35.

4×100 Freestyle Relay

Qualification

1. South Africa, 3:13.84 (Q).

2. United States, 3:15.83 (Q).

3. Italy, 3:16.18 (Q).

4. Netherlands, 3:16.42 (Q).

5. Russia, 3:17.46 (Q).

6. France, 3:17.64 (Q).

6. Australia, 3:17.64 (Q).

8. Germany, 3:17.97 (Q).

9. Canada, 3:18.35.

10. Ukraine, 3:18.95.

11. Lithuania, 3:19.28.

12. Brazil, 3:20.20.

13. Croatia, 3:21.01.

14. Greece, 3:24.26.

15. China, 3:24.31.

NR. Sweden, DQ.

Final

1. South Africa (Roland Mark Schoeman, 48.17; Lyndon Ferns, 48.13; Darian
Townsend, 48.96; Ryk Neethling, 47.91), 3:13.17.

2. Netherlands (Johan Kenkhuis, 49.81; Mitja Zastrow, 49.25; Klaas-Erik
Zwering, 48.51; Pieter van den Hoogenband, 46.79), 3:14.36.

3. United States (Ian Crocker, 50.05; Michael Phelps, 48.74; Neil Walker,
47.97; Jason Lezak, 47.86), 3:14.62.

4. Russia (Andrey Kapralov, 49.27; Evgeny Lagunov, 49.17; Denis Pimankov,
49.25; Alexander Popov, 48.06), 3:15.75.

4. Italy (Lorenzo Vismara, 49.16; Filippo Magnini, 48.30; Michele Scarica,
49.21; Christian Galenda, 49.08), 3:15.75.

6. Australia (Michael Klim, 49.37; Todd Pearson, 49.07; Eamon Sullivan,
49.19; Ian Thorpe, 48.14), 3:15.77.

7. France (Romain Barnier, 49.65; Julien Sicot, 49.31; Fabien Gilot, 48.95;
Frederick Bousquet, 48.32), 3:16.23.

8. Germany (Jens Schreiber, 49.88; Lars Conrad, 48.72; Torsten Spanneberg,
49.24; Stefan Herbst, 49.34), 3:17.18.

Women

100 Butterfly

Final

1. Petria Thomas, Australia, 57.72.

2. Otylia Jedrzejczak, Poland, 57.84.

3. Inge de Bruijn, Netherlands, 57.99.

4. Jess Schipper, Australia, 58.22.

5. Jennifer Thompson, United States, 58.72.

6. Martina Moravcova, Slovakia, 58.96.

7. Alena Popchanka, Belarus, 59.06.

8. Junko Onishi, Japan, 59.83.

100 Backstroke

Qualification

1. Laure Manaudou, France, 1:01.27 (Q).

2. Reiko Nakamura, Japan, 1:01.39 (Q).

3. Natalie Coughlin, United States, 1:01.45 (Q).

4. Kirsty Coventry, Zimbabwe, 1:01.60 (Q).

5. Noriko Inada, Japan, 1:01.67 (Q).

6. Antje Buschschulte, Germany, 1:01.68 (Q).

7. Nina Zhivanevskaya, Spain, 1:01.75 (Q).

8. Stanislava Komarova, Russia, 1:01.84 (Q).

9. Ilona Hlavackova, Czech Republic, 1:01.95 (Q).

10. Giaan Rooney, Australia, 1:01.96 (Q).

11. Haley Cope, United States, 1:01.99 (Q).

12. Katy Sexton, Britain, 1:02.01 (Q).

13. Louise Oernstedt, Denmark, 1:02.17 (Q).

13. Sarah Price, Britain, 1:02.17 (Q).

15. Chang Gao, China, 1:02.19 (Q).

16. Shu Zhan, China, 1:02.39 (Q).

17. Sanja Jovanovic, Croatia, 1:02.47.

17. Erin Gammel, Canada, 1:02.47.

19. Iryna Amshennikova, Ukraine, 1:02.57.

20. Marieke Guehrer, Australia, 1:02.76.

21. Nikolett Szepesi, Hungary, 1:02.78.

22. Hannah McLean, New Zealand, 1:03.09.

23. Janine Pietsch, Germany, 1:03.13.

24. Shim Min Ji, South Korea, 1:03.14.

25. Sviatlana Khakhlova, Belarus, 1:03.25.

26. Alessandra Cappa, Italy, 1:03.50.

27. Gisela Morales, Guatemala, 1:03.72.

28. Anna Gostomelsky, Israel, 1:04.06.

29. Alexandra Putra, France, 1:04.13.

30. Hiu Wai Sherry Tsai, Hong Kong, 1:04.25.

31. Kiera Aitken, Bermuda, 1:04.37.

32. Chonlathorn Vorathamrong, Thailand, 1:05.15.

33. Eirini Karastergiou, Greece, 1:05.30.

34. Sadan Derya Erke, Turkey, 1:05.38.

35. Serrana Fernandez, Uruguay, 1:05.51.

36. Hanna-Maria Seppala, Finland, 1:05.55.

37. Hsiao Han Fu, Taiwan, 1:06.62.

38. Anastassiya Prilepa, Kazakhstan, 1:07.55.

39. Lenient Obia, Nigeria, 1:09.65.

40. Galindo Ana, Honduras, 1:11.80.

41. Olga Gnedovckaya, Uzbekistan, 1:15.33.

42. Yelena Rojkova, Turkmenistan, 1:15.48.

Semifinals

1. Natalie Coughlin, United States, 1:00.17 (Q).

2. Laure Manaudou, France, 1:00.88 (Q).

3. Antje Buschschulte, Germany, 1:00.94 (Q).

4. Louise Oernstedt, Denmark, 1:01.12 (Q).

5. Haley Cope, United States, 1:01.13 (Q).

6. Nina Zhivanevskaya, Spain, 1:01.19 (Q).

7. Kirsty Coventry, Zimbabwe, 1:01.21 (Q).

8. Reiko Nakamura, Japan, 1:01.24 (Q).

9. Giaan Rooney, Australia, 1:01.41.

10. Stanislava Komarova, Russia, 1:01.63.

11. Noriko Inada, Japan, 1:01.74.

12. Ilona Hlavackova, Czech Republic, 1:01.81.

13. Katy Sexton, Britain, 1:01.96.

14. Zhan Shu, China, 1:02.10.

15. Gao Chang, China, 1:02.17.

16. Sarah Price, Britain, 1:02.48.

100 Breaststroke

Qualification

1. Brooke Hanson, Australia, 1:07.35 (Q).

2. Leisel Jones, Australia, 1:07.69 (Q).

3. Tara Kirk, United States, 1:07.92 (Q).

4. Sarah Poewe, Germany, 1:07.97 (Q).

5. Amanda Beard, United States, 1:08.04 (Q).

6. Xuejuan Luo, China, 1:09.07 (Q).

7. Hui Qi, China, 1:09.29 (Q).

8. Svitlana Bondarenko, Ukraine, 1:09.35 (Q).

9. Rhiannon Leier, Canada, 1:09.38 (Q).

10. Masami Tanaka, Japan, 1:09.44 (Q).

11. Agnes Kovacs, Hungary, 1:09.51 (Q).

12. Vipa Bernhardt, Germany, 1:09.60 (Q).

13. Lauren van Oosten, Canada, 1:09.93 (Q).

14. Mirna Jukic, Austria, 1:09.99 (Q).

15. Elena Bogomazova, Russia, 1:10.24 (Q).

16. Chiara Boggiatto, Italy, 1:10.33 (Q).

17. Maria Ostling, Sweden, 1:10.45.

18. Ina Kapishina, Belarus, 1:10.66.

19. Majken Thorup Toft, Denmark, 1:10.97.

20. Smiljana Marinovic, Croatia, 1:11.00.

21. Madelon Baans, Netherlands, 1:11.10.

22. Marina Kuc, Serbia-Montenegro, 1:11.27.

23. Eeva Saarinen, Finland, 1:11.39.

24. Diana Gomes, Portugal, 1:11.40.

24. Emma Robinson, Ireland, 1:11.40.

26. Ilkay Dikmen, Turkey, 1:11.69.

27. Imaday Nunez Gonzalez, Cuba, 1:12.14.

28. Salama Ismail, Egypt, 1:12.20.

29. Javiera Salcedo, Argentina, 1:12.46.

29. Aikaterini Sarakatsani, Greece, 1:12.46.

31. Jaclyn Pangilinan, Philippines, 1:12.47.

32. Alia S Atkinson, Jamaica, 1:12.53.

33. Wei-Min Nicolette Teo, Singapore, 1:12.87.

34. Lee Ji Young, South Korea, 1:12.93.

35. Annabelle Carey, New Zealand, 1:13.21.

36. Yi Ting Siow, Malaysia, 1:13.30.

37. Valeria Silva, Peru, 1:13.52.

38. Adriana Marmolejo Vargas, Mexico, 1:14.35.

39. Tsz Wa Yip, Hong Kong, 1:14.53.

40. Iris Edda Heimisdottir, Iceland, 1:15.35.

41. Katerine Moreno, Bolivia, 1:18.25.

42. Varduhi Avetisyan, Armenia, 1:18.87.

43. Shrone Austin, Seychelles, 1:19.02.

44. Nataliya Filina, Azerbaijan, 1:20.21.

45. Melissa Ashby, Grenada, 1:22.67.

46. Pauline Keita, Mali, 1:30.40.

47. Nayana Shakya, Nepal, 1:32.92.

48. Pamela Girimbabazi Rugabira, Rwanda, 1:50.39.

Semifinals

1. Leisel Jones, Australia, 1:06.78 (Q).

2. Sarah Poewe, Germany, 1:07.48 (Q).

3. Tara Kirk, United States, 1:07.60 (Q).

4. Brooke Hanson, Australia, 1:07.75 (Q).

5. Amanda Beard, United States, 1:07.92 (Q).

6. Svitlana Bondarenko, Ukraine, 1:08.28 (Q).

7. Luo Xuejuan, China, 1:08.57 (Q).

8. Qi Hui, China, 1:09.06 (Q).

9. Masami Tanaka, Japan, 1:09.11.

10. Agnes Kovacs, Hungary, 1:09.12.

11. Lauren van Oosten, Canada, 1:09.45.

12. Rhiannon Leier, Canada, 1:09.46.

13. Vipa Bernhardt, Germany, 1:09.72.

14. Mirna Jukic, Austria, 1:10.06.

15. Elena Bogomazova, Russia, 1:10.41.

16. Chiara Boggiatto, Italy, 1:10.84.

400 Freestyle

Qualification

1. Laure Manaudou, France, 4:06.76 (Q).

2. Otylia Jedrzejczak, Poland, 4:07.11 (Q).

3. Camelia Alina Potec, Zimbabwe, 4:07.39 (Q).

4. Ai Shibata, Japan, 4:07.63 (Q).

5. Rebecca Cooke, Britain, 4:08.18 (Q).

6. Kaitlin Sandeno, United States, 4:08.22 (Q).

7. Linda Mackenzie, Australia, 4:08.46 (Q).

8. Sachiko Yamada, Japan, 4:09.10 (Q).

9. Claudia Poll Ahrens, Costa Rica, 4:09.75.

10. Kalyn Keller, United States, 4:09.83.

11. Simona Paduraru, Zimbabwe, 4:10.39.

12. Hannah Stockbauer, Germany, 4:10.46.

13. Elka Graham, Australia, 4:11.67.

14. Jiaying Pang, China, 4:11.81.

15. Eva Risztov, Hungary, 4:12.08.

16. Brittany Reimer, Canada, 4:12.33.

17. Hua Chen, China, 4:12.67.

18. Erika Villaecija, Spain, 4:13.03.

19. Monique Ferreira, Brazil, 4:13.75.

20. Zoi Dimoschaki, Greece, 4:13.96.

21. Joanne Jackson, Britain, 4:14.89.

22. Cecilia Elizabeth Biagioli, Argentina, 4:16.42.

23. Arantxa Ramos, Spain, 4:16.52.

24. Anja Carman, Slovenia, 4:17.79.

25. Daria Parshina, Russia, 4:18.24.

26. Kristel Kobrich, Chile, 4:18.68.

27. Vesna Stojanovska, Macedonia, 4:19.39.

28. Janelle Anya Monique Atkinson, Jamaica, 4:20.00.

29. Paola Duguet Duran, Colombia, 4:20.69.

30. Kristyna Kynerova, Czech Republic, 4:21.12.

31. Rebecca Linton, New Zealand, 4:21.58.

32. Ha Eun-ju, South Korea, 4:21.65.

33. Golda Marcus, El Salvador, 4:22.27.

34. Pilin Tachakittiranan, Thailand, 4:23.62.

35. Ozlem Yasemin Taskin, Turkey, 4:24.08.

36. Ivanka Moralieva, Bulgaria, 4:25.92.

37. Anita Galic, Croatia, 4:26.09.

38. Olga Beresnyeva, Ukraine, 4:26.30.

Final

1. Laure Manaudou, France, 4:05.34.

2. Otylia Jedrzejczak, Poland, 4:05.84.

3. Kaitlin Sandeno, United States, 4:06.19.

4. Camelia Alina Potec, Romania, 4:06.34.

5. Ai Shibata, Japan, 4:07.51.

6. Sachiko Yamada, Japan, 4:10.91.

7. Linda Mackenzie, Australia, 4:10.92.

8. Rebecca Cooke, Britain, 4:11.35.

08/15/04 14:11 EDT

Martirosyan Gets U.S. Boxing’s Second Win

By GREG BEACHAM
.c The Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Vanes Martirosyan erased any doubts about the
legitimacy of his spot in Athens, battering Algeria’s Benamar Meskine
in a 45-20 victory in the preliminaries Sunday to earn a second-round
match with Cuba’s Lorenzo Aragon.

“I finished like a champion,” said Martirosyan, an Armenian-born
18-year-old from Glendale, Calif. “I could have won another four
rounds, to tell you the truth. I felt so good out there.”

Martirosyan showed the power and flair of a contender, dictating the
fight’s pace with a stiff jab and opportunistic combinations. He also
counterpunched effectively while landing more shots to the head than
almost any competitor so far at the busy boxing venue, which hosts
more than 20 fights every day of the preliminaries.

Middleweight Andre Dirrell got the United States off to a good start
Saturday with a win in his preliminary bout. Two Americans received
first-round byes, and five more will fight in the next three days
before the second round begins Wednesday.

Tougher fights still loom for a team that’s thought to be among the
weakest in the United States’ superb Olympic boxing history, but the
boxers believe they can improve on their mediocre four-medal haul four
years ago in Sydney.

“We’re a great team, we’re in great shape and we’re going to bring a
lot of medals home,” Martirosyan said.

Martirosyan was one fight from elimination at the U.S. team trials in
February in Tunica, Miss., but the two top contenders were
disqualified when Andre Berto threw Juan McPherson to the canvas,
injuring McPherson’s neck. McPherson was medically disqualified, and
Berto was banned for his actions.

Though he caught a lucky break, Martirosyan made the most of it by
earning an Olympic spot in the ensuing qualifying tournaments. Berto,
from Winter Haven, Fla., made the Olympics anyway on Haiti’s team –
but Martirosyan beat Berto in a subsequent tourney.

“A lot of boxing fans and people in our organization were very well
aware of Vanes,” U.S. coach Basheer Abdullah said. “There were a lot
of predictions that he was going to make this team.

He was very, very aggressive today. He dictated what was happening in
the fight.”

Martirosyan was cheered at Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall by his
father, Norik, a former amateur fighter who moved his family to
California when Vanes was 4; his younger brother, Vatche; his uncle
and his cousin – and a bunch of fans from Glendale who showed up
unannounced, waving Armenian and American flags.

Aragon, whose victory over Greece’s Theodoros Kotakos was stopped on
points in the third round, will be a stiff test for Martirosyan on
Thursday. The 1996 Olympic featherweight is a two-time world champion
as a welterweight, and he beat Martirosyan in the Athens Test Event in
May.

But Martirosyan was slugging point-for-point with Aragon until the
fourth round, when Martirosyan says he got overexcited by the prospect
of an upset.

“We’re Armenian. We have this thing where we get a little bit out of
control in the ring,” Martirosyan said. “I love this sport so
much. The coaches have told me to calm down, just think about points
instead of trying to get the guy out of there.”

After a slow first minute against Meskine, Martirosyan landed the
first of many shots to the Algerian’s head. Martirosyan then staggered
him with a beautiful left hand early in the third round.

That punch effectively ended the fight. Meskine retreated to
full-scale defense while Martirosyan chased. Martirosyan scored 16
points in the final round, putting his whole body behind his blows in
a vain effort to flatten Meskine.

Perhaps that Armenian instinct hasn’t completely been coached out of
him – and it will serve him well as a professional.

But first things first: Martirosyan finished third in the Athens Test
Event, and he isn’t keen on keeping that prize.

“I brought that bronze medal back so I could take the gold,” he
said.

08/15/04 14:43 EDT

SFGate.com

War and peace in a small Anatolian town

Reviewed by Charles Solomon

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Birds Without Wings

By Louis De Bernières

KNOPF; 553 PAGES; $29.95
“Birds Without Wings” is Louis De Bernières’ first novel since “Corelli’s
Mandolin” (1994), which won the Granta Prize, sold 2.5 million copies
worldwide and became a big-budget Hollywood film with Penelope Cruz and
Nicolas Cage. Even the author acknowledges that his new novel may not
duplicate the success of the previous one. “Birds” is a long, interesting
and sometimes challenging book. An account of the changes the first third of
the 20th century brings to a small Turkish village may not appeal to a mass
audience, particularly without an overriding romance to leaven the tale.

At the dawn of the 20th century, Eskibahçe is a town of no distinction in
western Anatolia. Muslims, Orthodox Christians and Armenians live there in
relative peace under the policy of tolerance that represented the Ottoman
Empire at its best. In Eskibahçe, a Christian father veils his young
daughter at the request of the learned imam, who finds that her beauty is
distracting the local men; a Muslim housewife asks her Christian neighbor to
light a candle before the icon of the Virgin — just in case. The scandals,
triumphs, solutions and problems remain local matters that the local people
can handle, just as their parents and grandparents did.

Then what Iskander the Potter calls the “great world” intervenes,
precipitating decades of wrenching sorrow and bloodshed. The Armenian
genocide is followed by World War I, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and
the emergence of modern Turkey. The end of the war produces the forced
expulsion and resettlement of half a million ethnic Greek Christians to
Greece (and of 1 million ethnic Turks to Turkey), a socially and
economically disastrous policy dictated by the Lausanne Settlement.

De Bernières presents the suffering of the inhabitants of Eskibahçe in
counterpoint to the life of Kemal Ataturk, commenting that history “is
finally nothing but a sorry edifice constructed from hacked flesh in the
name of great ideas.” De Bernières writes dense, fine-grained prose that
moves with the measured grace of a 19th century novel. But he often seems to
have spent too much time with the thesaurus and to have picked up a little
too much local color. If there’s an obscure, multi-syllable adjective that
can replace a simple, familiar one, he invariably chooses the former. He
delights in including words and phrases in Turkish and Greek, but rarely
bothers to translate them. When a grotesque, eccentric beggar takes up
residence among the nearby ancient tombs, the people of Eskibahçe provide
alms in the form of food: “They arrived with their small but honourable
offerings of kadinbudu köfte, green beans in olive oil and iç pilàv, and
then departed, having greeted him with a quiet ‘Hos geldiniz.’ ”

In an interview with the Observer, De Bernières said, “I’m one of those
writers who’s always going to be trying to write ‘War and Peace’: failing,
obviously, but trying.” A more apt comparison would be Dickens. De
Bernières’ narrative doesn’t proceed with the irresistible, martial sweep of
“War and Peace”; events seem like the product of chance and myriad small
decisions made by individuals, rather than historical inevitability. There’s
a Dickensian tone to De Bernières’ accounts of the everyday experiences of
his numerous characters, including minor, eccentric ones. It’s easy to
imagine Pip encountering Daskalos Leonidas, the embittered teacher who
spends his days teaching Greek to students he disdains and his nights
writing subversive political tracts that everyone ignores.

“Birds Without Wings” also lacks the passion that marks the novels of
Tolstoy (and Dickens, for that matter). Although Iskander’s son Karatavuk
takes part in it as a sniper, De Bernières fails to convey the horrors of
Battle of Gallipoli in 1915, where 281,000 Allied troops and 250,000 Turks
perished. The intimate domestic vignettes come to life in a way that the big
set pieces don’t. When two village housewives help each other during hard
times, blithely ignoring the religious and ethnic differences that will
later tear their lives apart, the reader can almost smell the onions and
olives in their kitchens. Karatavuk describes the stench and filth of the
battlefield in endless detail, but the images don’t register with the same
force. The catalog of tortures inflicted on the civilian populace by various
armies and brigands has less impact than the list of dishes at the feast
that Rustem Bey’s new mistress prepares for him.

Ultimately, “Birds Without Wings” is an ambitious book in which the little
things are what come to life. –

Charles Solomon is a Los Angeles writer.