Olympics: Quiet last day for Swiss

Modern pentathlete Florence Dinichert fell out of contention during the swimming stage Keystone

Just five Swiss athletes were involved in Olympic competition on Sunday as the Sydney Games wound down. None was able to make a late addition to Switzerland's impressive tally of nine medals.

The country’s showjumpers are already part of that overall success after winning the silver medal in the team event earlier in the week. But Beat Mändli, Willi Melliger and Markus Fuchs were unable to build on that success in the individual final.

Fuchs withdrew from the second round after falling out of contention during the first round. Mändli fared rather better, riding Pozitano into ninth place, missing out on a diploma by just half a penalty point.

Melliger and his horse Calvaro were one place behind Mändli. Both riders picked up eight penalty points in the second round.

Bernese student Florence Dinichert finished 12th out of 24 competitors in the Olympic debut of the women’s modern pentathlon. The 23-year-old athlete got off to a great start in the shooting event, finishing joint second behind the American pentathlete Emily de Riel.

Dinichert then registered 11 victories and 12 defeats in the fencing, finishing the stage in ninth position with her hopes of a diploma at least still intact.

The swimming event badly damaged her chances though. Racing in the slowest of the three heats, Dinichert finished in last place. She managed to climb back up the overall rankings by taking 13th position in the riding and 10th in the three-kilometre run.

As Dinichert gathered her breath, marathon runner Viktor Röthlin formally completed Switzerland’s participation in the Games. The Magglingen-based physiotherapist was the 35th runner to cross the line, some 10 minutes behind gold medal winner Gezahgne Abera of Ethiopia.

swissinfo with agencies