Web scribe ranks Olympic losers

LONDON (Reuters) - For those who believe the adage "all Olympic athletes are winners," a Canadian man has dedicated the past 10 days to proving you wrong.


At his "blog" site (http://www.mcwetboy.net/dfl), Jonathan Crowe has been chronicling those Olympic athletes who finished dead last in their respective events.


"I never mention the gold medallist's name here -- they get enough press," Crowe, 32, writes on his Web log -- or "blog".


In the past two days, the site has attracted thousands of Web surfers to Crowe's humorous takes on who may be the loveable losers at the Athens Olympics, reminiscent of past notables such as Eddie "the Eagle" or the Jamaican bobsled squad.


One candidate is Fumilay Fonseca of Sao Tome and Principe.


On Monday, Fonseca finished 52nd in the women's 20-km walk 35 minutes and 42 seconds behind the winner and about 15 minutes behind next-to-last finisher, he reported.


At the end of each day's events, a sort of reverse medals table tallying the most last-place finishes for each country is updated. On Tuesday, China, Greece and Kyrgyzstan were in a dead heat for the ignominious title.


Crowe, who last competed in a sporting event nearly 20 years ago in a high school track and field meet, said the purpose of the site is not to jeer the athletes who fall short.


"I'm not prepared to mock people who are out there putting themselves on the line. One thing this definitely is not is an exercise in schadenfreude," Crowe told Reuters. "But then, the athletes have to be prepared for this."