Commonwealth Games : Royal Bomb Scare a False Alarm

The swimming competition in the Commonwealth Games was delayed 45 minutes Wednesday due to a bomb scare a few minutes before the arrival of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

Officials said that during a routine security check, a sniffer dog became excited, and it was decided to carry out out a full search of the Royal Commonwealth pool. The building was evacuated, but after the search turned up nothing, competitors and spectators were allowed back in.

“It was the first time the dogs had got excited, and we didn’t want to take any chances,” a spokesman said.

In track and field, Sebastian Coe of Britain pulled out of his long-awaited 1,500-meter clash with countryman Steve Cram because of illness.

Coe’s withdrawal from the feature event of the track program was a bitter blow to organizers and fans, coming on top of the political boycott by 32 of the 58 original teams.

Coe, the two-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion, has had a throat infection since late last week and struggled through Monday’s heats and semifinals in the 800 meters. A decision on whether he will race in today’s 800-meter final, in which Cram is also entered, will be made shortly before the race.

“Seb has spent most of the last two days in bed but is much brighter this morning,” said Gordon Wright, England track team manager. “I had a heart-to-heart talk with him, and he felt it best for the team if he didn’t run in the 1,500 meters.”

Australia took the lead in the overall medal count, and teams from Jersey, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Malawi and Swaziland broke through to win their first medals of the games.

England slipped behind in the medal table after failing to win an event for the first day since the games began a week ago.

Australia built a seven-point lead in the overall standings with 83 medals--30 gold, 30 silver and 23 bronze.

England, which tied Australia for the lead Tuesday, slipped into second place with 76 medals, including 27 gold. Canada remained third with 71, including 30 gold.

Olympic champion Alex Baumann of Canada came within .38 of a second of his world record while winning the 200-meter medley.

The Canadian was behind at the halfway stage but rallied to win in 2:01.8, five meters ahead of Australia’s Robert Woodhouse. Scotland’s Neil Cochran, 1984 Olympic bronze medalist in Los Angeles, led the race in under-world-record time at one stage but settled for third place.

Australia’s Craig Robertson won the men’s high-board gold.

At the end of the swimming events, Australia had 40 medals, of which 13 were gold. Canada had two more gold medals but only 32 overall.

Malawi took two bronze medals in boxing, the sport hardest hit by the boycott.

Swaziland’s medal also came in boxing. Leonard Makhanya knocked out Welshman Kerry Weber in just 21 seconds to reach the flyweight final on Friday, assuring himself of at least a silver medal. Swaziland had won only two bronze medals in games history, one in 1982, also by Makhanya.

Jersey boxer John Sillitoe lost in the bantamweight semifinal but picked up a bronze, while Adrian Breton won the silver for Guernsey in the individual rapid-fire pistol competition.

Also in shooting, Hong Kong won its first-ever Commonwealth medal, a bronze that went to Kar-Fei Ho in the free pistol event.

The cycling program was postponed due to heavy rain and could prove a major headache for the organizers.

The competition has been hampered by bad weather throughout the week. The 4,000-meter individual pursuit went ahead Tuesday, but the rest of the program was wiped out.

The weather forecast is for more rain until Saturday, when the games close.