The Hindu : Sport : Anju out of the Games without a valid jump

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Anju out of the Games without a valid jump

Special Correspondent

BEIJING: Before leaving home for Beijing, she had said that she would make these Olympics Games the “most memorable moment” of her life.

On Tuesday, as she limped off the long jump pit after her third foul in the qualifying round, Anju George was a shattered woman. She was out of the Olympics without a valid jump against her name; just an NM, meaning ‘no mark’.

This was of course a ‘first’ for Anju on whom the whole of the country must have been pinning hopes notwithstanding her unspectacular run-up to the Games.

There was a rash of fouls this day, with many a big name failing to make it. Whatever be the reason for the series of fouls that was also noticeable in the men’s long jump final the previous day, Anju’s exit had nothing to do with the conditions.

Injured

Without anyone knowing about it, Anju had suffered an injury on the in-step of her right foot on her first trial jump in the competition area.

She mustered courage to attempt her first jump, but ran through, unable to take off since the injury was on her take-off foot.

“The second jump really took my life away,” Anju said later, in the ‘mixed zone’, where the Indian mediapersons surrounded her, unable to fathom the unbelievable exit of a champion jumper who had invariably figured in the final of every major championships since 2002 and finished among the top eight, barring a few exceptions.

Asked whether it had crossed her mind that she should pull out even before taking a jump, Anju said: “This is the Olympic Games. I didn’t even consider it as an option.”

About the automatic qualifying mark of 6.75m that only three jumpers managed to reach, Anju said: “The target was within my reach. I was in good shape. In fact, I was in better shape than what I was in Athens (where she jumped 6.83, her best so far, for the sixth place). The conditions were very good. It is very disappointing to finish like this,” she said.

Future plans

About her future plans, Anju said, “I don’t know whether I will be able to jump in the London Olympics in 2012. I will be there for the Commonwealth Games (in Delhi) and the Asian Games. That is the plan for now.”

The No. 1 jumper this season, Portuguese Naide Gomes (7.12m in Monaco in July), failed to make the final, with a best of 6.29 metres on her last attempt, after having fouled the first two.

Athens Olympics silver medallist, Tatyana Kotova of Russia, one of the top jumpers of all time, also did not make it with a 6.57. She had one foul.

The best Russian this season, Lyudmila Kolachanova (7.04) had not even made her National team while defending champion Russian Tatyana Lebedeva, the silver winner here in triple jump, touched 6.70, the joint best among non-automatic qualifiers, to move into the final.

Britney Reese of the U.S. who has been in good form this season, headed the qualifiers’ list with 6.87.

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