The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Anju for Prefontaine Classic

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 01, 2005

Sport

Sport - Athletics

Anju for Prefontaine Classic

Principal Correspondent

KOCHI: Nearly three weeks after dusting off the rust in her season-opener in Doha, ace long jumper Anju George left for the United States on Monday night for this weekend's Prefontaine Classic in Oregon.

Season-openers often tend to be tight and slow, it takes time to stretch oneself to full flow. And coming off a seven-month lay-off, Anju's 6.42-m effort in the IAAF Qatar Super Grand Prix was expected. Even the Olympic champion, Russian Tatyana Lebedeva, who has a personal best of 7.33m, could manage just 6.70m while winning the gold in Doha. Lebedeva, however, will be missing from the Prefontaine Classic which is a round of the IAAF Grand Prix Series.

Also missing will be defending champion Marion Jones who has decided to give up long jump and concentrate on sprints this year. The American had picked up the gold comfortably with a 6.93-m effort last year. She also holds the record at the event with 7.31m set in 1998.

Despite their absence, Anju will be facing a strong challenge from Russian Tatyana Kotova, who won the Athens bronze last year with 7.05m. Kotova's best, 7.42m, which came three years ago is the fifth-best jump in the event's all-time list.

The 28-year-old Anju, the World No. 6, won the bronze at the Prefontaine Classic with a wind-aided 6.83m last year and this after fouling three of her six attempts. The Kerala-born World championship bronze medallist who has a personal best of 6.83m, will be a favourite for a podium finish this time too.

The others in the fray are Jamaican Elva Goulbourne, who was one of the world leaders last year, Chinese Liemi Xie, Jackie Edwards of the Bahamas and Americans Grace Upshaw, Rose Richmond and Akiba McKinney. Grace Upshaw (World No. 9) won the Payton Jordan US Open gold in California on Monday with her year's best jump of 6.73m.

The women's long jump is the first event of the meet and will be held in the afternoon. The winner of each event at the June 4 meet takes home $5,000. The Prefontaine Classic is being held in memory of Steve Prefontaine, one of America's greatest middle-distance runners, who died in a car accident 30 years ago when he was just 24.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport