Sunday, Aug 31, 2003
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Athletics
By K. P. Mohan
In front of a roaring crowd of 54,134 paying spectators, not to speak of thousands of others, all rooting for Eunice Barber, who clinched the gold on a last-gasp jump, Anju's effort did not pale into the background. Not for the world media, anyway. India's first medal, at the global level in athletics, Olympics included, was earned the hard way through a grind in US and Europe and here. In the end, a proud Anju dedicated her bronze to the country. "I am very happy as you can understand. This is the moment I have been waiting for,'' said Anju, moments after the athletes came through the mixed zone. "Have you now seen that medal on the world stage you keep talking about,'' asked husband and coach Bobby George, rather jokingly. But it had a lot of meaning. Indians, invariably, fumble on such big stages after promising much in the run-up. Everyone knew Anju was quite capable of pulling it off, but on her maiden Worlds, one was not sure what her temperament would be. Since taking the silver at the SAF Games in Kathmandu in 1999 Anju had climbed steadily. She qualified for the Olympics in 2000, but could not make it due to injury, but last year she wrote a new chapter in her career as well as in Indian athletics by becoming the first Indian woman athlete to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games, a bronze. The gold at the Busan Asian Games followed and Anju was well on her way to stardom. After having come through the qualifying rounds in sixth place with a 6.59m, her only valid jump that day, Anju was prepared to tackle the final in a better frame of mind. Anju led after the first round, with her 6.61. That was the kind of start that should have pushed her to reach beyond her best. And she did. She fouled her second and third jumps but having done so well with the opening jump, the guarantee of making it into the final rounds was there for the Chennai-based Customs officer. Her fourth round effort was a modest 6.56m, but in the next, a much more relaxed Anju produced her season best, measuring 6.70m. As she landed, she looked up towards husband Bobby George, sitting in the stands with coach Mike Powell, shook her head and pumped her fist into the sand. "It was a flat jump, otherwise it would have been a much better distance. Powell was surprised that it measured 6.70,'' Anju would say later. It was just four centimetres short of her personal best and National record, achieved twice back home, the last time at last year's Open National in Delhi. After Kotova and Barber hit the front, Anju held onto her third spot through the competition. Once she finished, with 6.62, after having fouled two in the opening round, Anju had to wait for Britain's Jade Johnson to complete her last round. The Briton did 6.53. Her best, 6.63, fetched her the fourth place. Tatyana Kotova, barely making it to the final the other day, fouled first and then jumped right into the lead with a 6.74. But Eunice Barber could not be denied her glory in front of another near-packed house. She also reached 6.74 and into the lead in the second round since Kotova's next best was a foul. Ktova went into the lead with a 6.72 in the fifth round that broke the tie in her favour, but Barber, to the roar of approval from a frenzied crowd, jumped 6.99m, the home team's first gold medal at these championships. The Indian women's 4x400m relay team finished fifth and last in its heat in a disappointing 3:42.25. The team was entered since there was no qualifying mark for the relays. In the event, the quartet of Kalpana Reddy, Satti Geetha, Sagardeep Kaur and Manjit Kaur could only finish about 60 metres ahead of its nearest rival, Greece. The heat was won by Jamaica in 3:26.22, with Britain taking the second place at 3:26.44 and Poland third in 3:26.66. Australia withdrew from this heat. American Allen Johnson brushed many a hurdle and tilted a few on way to his fourth World title in the 110m hurdles event. He clocked a modest 13.12s, his poorest among the four, but his overwhelming superiority was never in doubt, no matter he rattled timber, in typical fashion, all the way. Chinese Liu Xiang, who could have been the choice for the silver, was slack from the eighth hurdle onwards, despite the best start in the field (0.140s reaction) and a fast-finish Terrence Trammell of the US, pushed him to the third, 13.20 to 13.23. Another American, Larry Wade came in fourth. Nineteen-year-old Chinese Shi Dongpeng finished seventh in 13.55s. The 1999 champion, Mirela Manjani regained the women's javelin title with a world-leading 66.52m in the fourth round. In the process she upstaged favourites Tatyana Shikolenko of Russia and World record holder and defending champion Osleidys Menendez of Cuba. Shikolenko had a third-round 63.28 for the silver while Menendez ended up fifth with 62.19. The bronze went to German Steffi Nerius. The big names were brought crashing down to earth in the women's 5000 metres by the 18-year-old Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba who won a tactial race in 14:51.72. Marta Dominguez of Spain and Edith Masai of Kenya won the silver and bronze respectively. Ethiopian Berhane Adere, aiming for an unprecedented double, finished 10th, just a slot behind Chinese Sun Yingjie who had tested her in the longer event while winning the bronze. Romanian Gabriela Szabo, who led the race for some time, was 11th while Irishwoman Sonia O'Sullivan finished 15th and last. A relatively unknown Moroccan, Jaouad Gharib beat a formidable field to win the marathon title at the World athletics championships here on Saturday. The 31-year-old Moroccan, a silver medal winner at last year's world half marathon, clocked a championship best of two hours eight minutes 31 secs to win from Spaniard Julio Rey who clung to him past the 30km mark and was with him almost together into the Stade de France at the finish. In the end, there was just about 60 metres to separate the two, Rey clocking 2:08:38. Stefano Baldini of Italy took the bronze, like he did the last time in Edmonton, clocking 2:09:14. A whole lot of top-notchers, including World and Olympic champion Gezahgne Abera of Ethiopia, failed to finish. Others who did not finish included Kenyan Frederick Cherono who led for a while. In fact it was a disastrous event for Kenya and Ethiopia. John Capel and Darvis Patton brought America back to the sprint podium in convincing fashion on Friday, but it was the bronze that Shingo Suetsugu earned in the 200 metres that had an enormous significance, at least from the Asian angle. In the slowest ever World championships 200m final, on a rainy, chilly night, the Americans had a one-two, with Capel winning the gold in 20.30 and Patton a hundredth of a second behind. Suetsugu, after having looked like challenging everyone for the silver at least, as he had promised, slackened a little on the home straight and was lucky to get into the medals bracket, the first time a Japanese has achieved such a distinction in the sprints. Suetsugu made a desperate lunge at the finish and that helped him push Briton Darren Campbell, looking out for his second medal, to the fourth spot. The Japanese clocked 20.38, with Campbell, winner of the bronze in the 100m, just a hundredth of a second behind. Not since Susumu Takano made the 400m final in Tokyo in 1991 had a Japanese made a sprint final. And Takano happens to be Suetsugu's coach. The master would not have envied his pupil on this occasion. As the confirmation of the results came, the Japanese was overjoyed and then he broke into tears. America had another success in the evening when Dwight Phillips, in a body suit with a hood to boot, a la Cathy Freeman at Sydney Olympics, jumped 8.32m in the fifth round to clinch the long jump gold. The 25-year-old American thus added the outdoor world title to the indoor one he already possessed. James Beckford of Jamaica produced his season best 8.28 for the silver while Yago Lamela of Spain, favourite at the start of the contest, ended up with the bronze at 8.22m. Disaster struck South African Llewellyn Herbert on the last hurdle in the 400m hurdles final. He looked likely to threaten world champion Felix Sanchez or at least aim for the silver when he clipped the 10th hurdle and fell heavily. He pumped his fist into the track in disappointment and then fell on his back, looking at the skies as though seeking an answer from the almighty how things could have gone so wrong when everything had looked so rosy moments earlier. Sanchez proved that despite doubts expressed in certain quarters, he was still the best. His 47.25s was world-leading, with plenty of leeway from the second-placed Joey Woody of the US (48.18).Greek Periklis Iakovakis took the bronze in 48.24. The 1999 champion Inga Babakova of Ukraine went out at the qualification stage of the women's high jump, clearing 1.88m against an automatic qualifying mark of 1.93. That mark was achieved by 10 jumpers including favourites Hestrie Cloete of South Africa, the defending champion, and Sweden's Kajsa Bergqvist, the leader this season. The difficult conditions affected the men's javelin throwers as well. Miroslav Gudzek of the Czech Republic threw only to a distance of 77.24m and still got into the final. Since the advent of the new javelin in 1987, only that year did anyone with a mark below 78m get into the final. German Boris Henry had an 83.43, Jan Zelezny, gunning for his fourth world title, topped his group, with an 82.88. Among the others, Russian Sergey Makarov had an 82.22, Chinese Li Rongxiang 81.76 and Briton Steve Backley 80.23. The results: Men: 110m hurdles: 1. Allen Johnson (USA) 13.12s, 2. Terrence Trammell (USA) 13.20, 3. Liu Xiang (Chn) 13.23; marathon: 1. Jaouad Gharib (Mar) 2:08.31, 2. Julio Rey (Esp) 2:08:38, 3. Stefano Baldini (Ita) 2:09:14. Women: 5000m: 1. Tirunesh Dibaba (Eth) 14:51.72, 2. Marta Dominguez (Esp) 14:52.26, 3. Edith Masai (Ken) 14:52.30; javelin throw: 1. Mirela Manjani (Gre) 66.52m, 2.Tatyana Shikolenko (Rus) 63.28, Steffi Nerius (Ger) 62.70. Friday's results: Men: 200m: 1. John Capel (USA) 20.30s, Darvis Patton (USA) 20.31, 3. Shingo Suetsugu (Jpn) 20.38; 400m hurdles: 1. Felix Sanchez (Dom)47.25s, 2. Joey Woody (USA) 48.18, 3. Periklis Iakovakis (Gre) 48.24. Long jump: 1. Dwight Phillips (USA) 8.32m, 2. James Beckford (Jam) 8.28, 3. Yago Lamela (Esp) 8.22.
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