Overheard

"They're in the stands, man."

—U.S. decathlete Phil McMullen, on the whereabouts of his shoes after the entire field took a victory lap

Victory lap, take one:
Gabriela Szabo and Violeta Szekely refused to look each other in the eye. Forced to sit side-by-side at the postrace press conference in Edmonton, the fellow Romanians -- who had finished 1-2 in the 1500-meter final on Tuesday night -- sucked in their cheeks, flared their nostrils and rolled their eyes. That they weren't bothering to hide their Kelly-and-Valerie-from-90210 contempt for each other was refreshingly hilarious. I found myself almost praying for a catfight. Or at least a "Very Special EPO Episode."

Aaron Spelling would've been proud, anyway. Earlier this year, Szabo called Szekely "ugly" in a magazine article. So Szekely slapped Szabo with a $225,000 slander suit. Tonight, they even wore different national uniforms, a perfect symbol of their mutual disdain.

Despite all this, Szabo had grabbed Szekely's hand after the race -- even then, no eye contact -- and the women took a laughably awkward team victory lap. Violeta, the heavy favorite going into the race, frowned the entire time.

"That was nice for Romania," Gabriela said later. "But she no talk to me. I no talk to her. Okay, it's good relationship -- why not? Life goes away. Eh, I mean, life goes on."

Meowrrr!

Victory lap, take two:
After the 1500-meter finale, the entire decathlon field jogged around the oval. The mass of exhausted but elated men circling the Commonwealth couldn't care less that Tomas Dvorak of Czechoslovakia was the only one taking home gold.

Explain yourselves, said the media.

"You've never done a decathlon," says Great Britain's bronze medalist, Dean Macey, with an impish grin. "I have, and it's very difficult. I'm not bragging -- well, maybe a bit -- but you feel like you've really accomplished something."

"Maybe in Canada and the U.S., it is not usual," said Estonia's Erik Nool, the slightly dejected Olympic champ who earned silver here. "But in Europe, it is a nice tradition."

<>Somebody go get Kelly and Valerie some javelins.

Victory lap, take three:
Fans from Ethiopia had set up on the second bend off the backstretch. Their flag-waving seemed to drive the Ethiopian women to a 10K sweep, with Derartu Tulu edging out teammate Berhane Adere at the tape, and Gete Wami diving past Britain's Paula Radcliffe for third. Each Ethiopian carried her own flag, but their victory lap was a sincere gesture of sisterhood.

Later, as the stragglers at the press conference clapped politely, the three women stood and bowed in humble gratitude. And as their team doctor translated, "We knew you three had a strategy planned against Radcliffe, but what were your tactics against each other?", they giggled with delight.

"A deadly struggle exists [against] our foes," Tulu responded. "We didn't have a strategy against each other. The race just unfolds. Whatever comes out will come out. And we sisters are fortunate to get all three medals."

Lotta unemployed lawyers in Ethiopia, eh?

E-mail Anne Marie Cruz at anne.marie.cruz@espnmag.com.