August 28, 2004
 

Oh well, Anju George's national record of 6.83m wasn't enough to get her a medal position in the long jump yesterday. But I'm amazed that people thought she'd get to the podium. At best, she was ranked #6 or #7 in the world based on season best jumps prior to the games. She'd never got to 6.9m, let alone 7m. Four others had already done 7m in 2004 alone. So really, the odds were so stacked against her that it was almost cruel to hold her up as being India's sole remaining hope.

Even in the World Championships last year when she won the bronze, Tatyana Kotova, who won bronze yesterday was the only top jumper in action.

I'm not trying to run down Anju George's achievements, but we must place her numbers in context. It was quite ridiculous to expect her to get a medal. Well, if she got one, she'd have needed a bloody good jump. I hope she improves in time for the Beijing Olympics. She'll be 31 then, certainly not too old for a medal given that Marion Jones is 29 now. Perhaps 2008 is too far away and she should aim for a gold/silver at the Helsinki World Championships next year instead.

Will someone explain the logic behind the awarding of medals in the long jump though? Jump further than everyone else just once and the medal is yours? What happens if you jump 7.08m in your first try and foul the rest? I find it a totally bizarre rule actually. Really they should be taking into account some sort of average jump length or say the best 4 out of 6 jumps. This'd mean that you could really foul only a couple and just because you've jumped a long distance in one jump doesn't mean you can go off to sleep and foul everytime because you know no one else is getting anywhere near your mark.

Labels: olympics