Gilreath, Williams Fare Well At Pre-Olympic Meets
Friday, July 23, 2004 | Women's Track and Field
Competing in one of the final tune-ups before the 2004 Olympics in Athens, former University of Florida athlete Erin Gilreath participated at the Gaz de France Paris Saint-Denis meet on Friday, while fellow Olympian Novlene Williams won an event at a meet in Estonia.
Gilreath, who won the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials in the hammer, posted a mark of 69.89m, which was good enough to beat 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist Kamila Skolimowska. Gilreath's mark was just more than half a meter off her throw at the U.S. Trials (70.42) as she finished fourth in a meet featuring several of the world's best hammer throwers. Cuba's Vipsi Moreno set a meet record in winning the event with a throw of 72.43.
Competing at the Tallinn 2004 meet in Tallinn, Estonia, Williams won the 400m with a time of 51.65, which was nearly a full second faster than runner-up Olessia Pogorelova of Russia, who clocked a 52.63 before a crowd of 4,000 spectators.
