Here's a report taken from the press. It's not from the US or British press. From the language and style, can you make an educated guess where it came from?

Gatlin is King on an electric night

The heir apparent, American Justin Gatlin, became the king.

And the king himself, Maurice Greene, three times world champion and also the defending Olympic champion, did not exactly disgrace himself, coming in third barely two-hundredths of a second behind in a battle that lasted only as long you take to blink. But the stakes were enormous - the title of being the Fastest Man in the Olympics.

The atmosphere was electric. The races held earlier in the day seemed much like the side bouts on the big night of a heavyweight boxing title match. And the minutes leading up to the 100m final Sunday night, with 60,000 spectators roaring away and the sprint stars preening themselves with their arrogant walk and huge smiles, was almost gladiatorial in nature.

A perfect throwback to the ancient Greek times. Eight men, one title and no prisoners. The winner takes all and the rest just make up numbers. There is a medal for two others, but the champion is the one they all remember.

Gatlin, the 2002 World Indoor champion, clocked a personal best of 9.85 seconds, while staving off Francis Obikwelu, the Nigerian who switched allegiance to Portugal two years ago, by just one hundredths of the second.

Obikwelu, who speaks four languages, spoilt the American party by squeezing in second, using his 1.95 height to outlean stocky Greene, whose 9.85 seconds was his best this year.

Gatlin's training partner, Shawn Crawford, who once raced a giraffe and a zebra (he beat the giraffe but not the zebra) in a Made for TV, "Man v Beast" race, clocked 9.89 seconds, the same as he had in the second round, but still finished outside the podium. Crawford was within one-hundredth of a second of his best ever, 9.88 clocked earlier this, but even that would have not fetched him a medal in this high-voltage race.

Asafa Powell, who twice beat Greene this season, and was a strong contender for the title, ended fifth in 9.94s.

The top four came inside 9.90 seconds, with just four hundredths of a second between them.

The men's 100m final at the Olympic Games is one battle, where there are no prisoners and the winner takes all. And tonight as nearly 60,000 fans screamed and a billion others watched around the world, Gatlin won the closest 100m final in 24 years and quite easily one of the classiest in Olympic history.

Four of the finalists, including two of the medalists, were the same as Sydney four years ago. But this time only Greene found a place again on the podium. The other three occupied the last three places. Kim Collins of the tiny Caribbean island of St. Kitts and Nevis, 2003 World Champion and 2002 Commonwealth champion, seventh at Sydney four years ago moved up to sixth with a season's best 10.00. Barbadian Obadele Thompson, bronze medalist in 2000, and who has the fastest time ever over 100m, including wind-assisted runs (at 9.69s) was seventh and Ghanian Aziz Zakari for the second time failed to finish an Olympic final.

Greene looked best off the blocks and kept the early tempo but by 40m, Gatlin had come on strongly and then opened up a gap of a stride and a half or so. But with Obikwelu, a strong finisher, who uses his height very well, came within a whisker, but that was about as close he got.

Greene ended third, beaten by the narrowest of definable margins, one-hundredth of a second, but joined a select band of sprinters to have won a medal in two successive Olympic Games.

The elite group has only two runners Carl Lewis (winner 1984 and 1988) and Linford Christie who upgraded his 1988 silver to gold in 1992. In 1988 both Lewis and Christie went up one place after Ben Johnson was disqualified. Namibian Frankie Fredericks (silver in 1992 and 1996) and Trinidadian Ato Boldon (3rd in 1996 and second in 2000) are others to have won two 100m Olympic medals.

And here's another report of the same story, from another country.

Tightest finish in Olympic history

AMERICAN Maurice Greene was the sentimental favourite, his chance to repeat his Sydney 2000 feat and grab the gold in the 100m sprint. It did not turn out that way in Athens yesterday morning.

The new fastest man on earth, and the one to beat at Beijing 2008, is his compatriot Justin Gatlin, 22. The tightest finish in Olympics history saw a crowd of five runners clocking below 10 seconds.

Gatlin's winning time of 9.85sec was the tiniest bit behind Canadian Donovan Bailey's Olympic record of 9.84sec, set in 1996.

Gatlin, referring to his compatriot Greene, declared: 'Maurice is one of the greatest competitors in the world. However, this is a new era, the young guys are coming.'

At 30, Greene was the oldest of the top six runners.

Portugal's Nigerian import Francis Obikwelu, 25, took the silver in 9.86sec, leaving Greene to settle for bronze in 9.87sec, exactly the same time that won him gold in Sydney.

Not about to be put to pasture, Greene, who has a Goat - standing for Greatest Of All Time - tattoo on his arm, told reporters: 'The young guys are coming but I am not done yet. I'm still coming back. I am still the greatest in the world.'

Finishing behind the medallists were Shawn Crawford, 26, of the US, Jamaican Asafa Powell, 21, and reigning world champion Kim Collins, 28, of St Kitts and Nevis, who clocked 10sec to finish sixth.

With four runners going below 9.90sec, judges needed the electronic eye to tell them apart at the finish line.

Gatlin, solidly built at 1.85m and 83kg, was once banned for drug abuse.

In 2001, he tested positive for amphetamines and received a two-year ban which was halved when he appealed on medical grounds - he suffered from attention deficit disorder. Yesterday, he declared himself drug-free and 'a genuine, clean champion'.

'This gold means the world to me. I've been dreaming of this since I started racing.'

There is something very Indian about the first one: beautifully correct prose with school-essay cliches.

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Originally posted by shufitz:
Gatlin's winning time of 9.85sec was the tiniest bit behind Canadian Donovan Bailey's Olympic record of 9.84sec, set in 1996.

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The 'tiniest' bit must narrow this down: not Caribbean; certainly colonial.

This is an excellent game: perhaps I could post my students e-mails to me and you can guess where they come from?

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Originally posted by Graham Nice:
This is an excellent game: perhaps I could post my students e-mails to me and you can guess where they come from?

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Certainly. The "from the press" problems are a bit difficult to pose, in that it's not easy to find english-language reports from countries like Russia and Japan, where English is not a main language.

Yes, it is a great game, but I wonder if you could give us some selections? Otherwise, it is like a needle in a haystack, at least for me.

Graham, that would be great if you posted some of your students' e-mails to you.

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Originally posted by Graham Nice:

quote:

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Originally posted by shufitz:
Gatlin's winning time of 9.85sec was the tiniest bit behind Canadian Donovan Bailey's Olympic record of 9.84sec, set in 1996.

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The 'tiniest' bit must narrow this down: not Caribbean; certainly colonial.

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I don't know. I'd guess at somewhere in the Caribbean; Jamaica, perhaps? The fact that the report stops listing finishers at Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis might indicate the author wants to include him because he comes from the West Indies.

As Kalleh suggested, it might be easier if we were to be offered a choice of counties.

The first is from India (well done, Graham!) and the second is from Singapore.

Who will proffer the next puzzler?