Brazilian Leads Team in Finale

On Sunday, the final day of the Goodwill Games, Brazilian Fernando Scherer equaled the fourth fastest time ever for the men’s 50-meter freestyle as the World All-Stars defeated Germany, 85-37, to win the team gold medal.

The world team finished with a 3-0 dual-meet record. Russia (2-1) won the silver and Germany (1-2) the bronze.

Scherer was timed in 22.18 seconds, but said he could have gone faster. “I missed the wall by just a little,” he said. “Just a quicker touch and I would have been a little faster.”

Scherer, who lives and trains in Florida, also clocked the fourth fastest split in the men’s 4x100 meter relay with a time of 48.69 seconds.

His performance overshadowed Russia’s Alexander Popov of Russia, who finished second in 22.27. But that performance helped Russia defeat the United States, 63-59.

In the U.S.-Russia met, a 1-2 sweep by Popov and teammate Roman Yegorov in the 50-meter freestyle was decisive.

American Bill Pilczuk won the event in the World Championships this year, but was a badly beaten third.

“I think maybe there was too much pressure in Bill,” Popov said.

“I got worse as the meet went on,” Pilczuk said. “I’m tired. I was really aggravated I got third. I should have had second.”

Popov also helped Russia beat the U.S. in the medley relay with a strong freestyle leg. Popov caught Dan Phillips and gave Russia a .60-second victory.

In the only other competitive event on Sunday, top-seeded Brazilians Adriana Behar and Sheldar Bede disposed of fourth-ranked Australians Kerri Pottharst and Pauline Manser, 12-9, 12-5, in the women’s beach volleyball final in Central Park.

Behard and Bede trailed 6-4 in the first set before finding their rhythm with a series of booming serves which left their Australian opponents scrambling in the sand on the makeshift surface at the Woollman ice skating rink.

“We train every day, one hour on serving,” said Bede. “I don’t know what other teams do, but we put a lot of stress on our serves.”

Brazil also took the men’s beach volleyball title earlier in the competition.