Brown's light touch shifts balance of power

Sunday 26 September 2004 00:00 BST
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Powerlifter Emma Brown took Great Britain's first gold medal of day eight by defending her 82.5kg title. Brown, 25, lifted 130kg to take the title ahead of Carine Burgy, of France, and Egypt's Hend Abd Elaty, winning Britain's 25th gold of the Games. Her lift was matched by the Frenchwoman, but Brown won gold due to her lighter body-weight. "I thought the French girl would struggle to lift 130kg and I had my fingers crossed she wouldn't go any higher," Brown said.

There was a dramatic win for Britain's wheelchair basketball team as free throws from Ade Adepitan and Simon Munn in the last seven seconds clinched a quarter-final win over the United States. A total of 5,200 fans, including a strong British contingent, turned out to watch one of the tournament's most closely contested matches, in which the British team were never behind and eventually won 62-59.

"I felt relaxed, I never thought I'd miss them," Adepitan said of his crucial shots. Munn led the scoring for Team GB, with 25 points. David Titmuss's side face Australia in the semi-finals, the team they lost to heavily in the preliminary round.

In cycling, Ian Sharpe and his sighted pilot Paul Hunter picked up bronzes in the 4km tandem individual pursuit and the 1km time-trial in the Olympic Velodrome. They hoped to follow that up with another medal in the B1-3 tandem combined road-race and time-trial event, but their efforts were hampered by a puncture in yesterday's road-race, and the pair finished in 17th.

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