Yegorova wins, Szabo draws a blank

By K. P. Mohan

EDMONTON, AUG. 12. Olga Yegorova won but got booed. Gabriela Szabo could not even get a medal and yet she was the centre of attraction. The EPO controversy was brought right back with the Romanian asserting, ``to me she is not the World champion.''

With the focus fully turned towards the women's 5000 metres on this penultimate day of the World athletic championships, a bitter battle could have been expected between the tainted Yegorova and the squealing Szabo.

But the spring was missing in Szabo's strides. In hot conditions, with the going getting tougher and tougher with each passing lap, the petite Romanian went out of contention long before the `bell' chimed.

The battle for the gold then looked to be between Yegorova and Dong Yanmei, one of Ma Junren's proteges. It did not exactly pan out that way in the end. The Russian swept everyone aside with her `kick' from about 220 metres to the line. Dong Yanmei was at first passed by Spaniard Marta Dominguez on the straight and just nearing the finish she was robbed of the bronze by Ethiopian Ayelech Worku. Just 0.56s separated the two.

Some early front-running and a tactical change of pace with two and a half laps to go, that shook Szabo off, eventually came to nothing for Dong Yanmei. Her only consolation could be that she was back on the world stage after China excluded her and some other top athletes from the squad for the Sydney Olympics last year.

She still holds the second best timing on the all-time list for 5000m with the 14:29.82, clocked behind Jiang Bo's world record (14:28.09) at the National Games in Shanghai in October, 1997. Here, in the heats, she had won with a 15:09.44, but looked strong enough to stake a claim for the gold in the final.

EPO imbroglio

Yegorova's 15:03.39 was pedestrian. Perhaps the conditions were not ideal, with the temperatures around the 27 degrees mark. Perhaps the timings never mattered in this much- hyped race that was the talking point ever since the IAAF lifted a suspension on Yegorova following procedural mistakes in the EPO testing done by the French at the Paris Golden League meeting in July.

If anyone banked on the IAAF's own testing programme catching the `culprit', that was not to be and rather reluctantly the IAAF had to clear Yegorova for participation here. Incidentally, the Russian had finished eighth at the Sydney Olympics.

Some of the athletes wore red badges on their vests on Thursday to show their protest while competing in the heats and Briton Paula Radcliffe had a sign-board displayed in the stands. It read: `EPO cheats out'. Stadium security had intervened to take that out but Radcliffe had made her point and got that into television.

The IAAF has argued that since Yegorova came clean on the urine test that it had arranged at the Lausanne laboratory, there was little possibility of any `advantage' for the athlete. All might not agree with that assumption. Even though procedural mistakes prevented the IAAF from continuing with the original positive case in Paris, the fact remained that Yegorova's urine test then had turned positive for EPO (erythropoetin), a stamina- boosting drug. The only problem was that instead of conducting a blood and urine test, the French authorities had carried out only a urine test and that was against protocol.

Szabo, winner of the 1500 metres earlier, was the only athlete left in line for a golden double here. ``I wanted to win the gold, but I couldn't. I ran five races here and that mattered,'' said Szabo. She did not look comfortable at all during the race, but managed to be in the leading bunch till about 4200 metres when Dong Yanmei shifted gears and pushed ahead.

Relay gold for US women

Though it could not be called a double, Marion Jones had a second gold as the US short relay squad swept to the title in the most convincing fashion, clocking 41.71s, the fastest in four years. Jones, running the anchor, finished nearly ten metres ahead of the rest. The others in the team were Kelli White, Chryste Gaines and Inger Miller. Germany took the silver and France a surprise bronze ahead of Jamaica.

``I came here with the goal of winning three gold medals. I could not get one of them, but that sort of thing happens. For me it was a learning experience. I have learnt so much about my technique in the 100 metres from this meet,'' said Jones.

The US men's relay team, in the meantime, was disqualified after the heats, on the ground that lead-off Jon Drummond had stepped off his lane into the adjacent one. But on a protest, the team was re-instated, at the top of the qualifiers' list with a timing of 38.35 seconds. Among the qualifiers was Japan, but Britain, which could have been a medal contender, Germany and Cuba were disqualified for zone violations.

Through the week, Gail Devers had looked the likely champion in the 100-metre hurdles, but when it came to the final moment, the American was left holding the silver. The three-time World champion hit three hurdles on the way while her US team- mate Anjanette Kirkland led from start to finish to grab the gold in 12.42s. Devers who had a poorer start than Kirkland, clocked 12.54s.

The photo-finish judges took quite some time to separate Olympic champion Olga Shishigina of Kazkhstan and Svetla Dmitrova of Bulgaria, both credited with 12.58 for the third slot. Shishigina was eventually given the bronze. American Jenny Adams, who looked capable of sneaking in a medal through the manner in which she coped with the rounds, had to settle for the fifth place, in 12.63 seconds, a personal best.

Pedroso shows his class

Ivan Pedroso showed why he is in a class of his own when it comes to the big meets. The 28-year-old Cuban won his fourth World title on the trot with a modest 8.40 in long jump. Pedroso led from round two and was never passed. American collegiate champion Savante Stringfellow, considered one of the favourites in the pre-meet calculations, ended up with the silver at 8.24 while Portugal's Carlos Calado won the bronze with 8.21 after a countback with American Miguel Pate who also had the same mark. Caldo's second best was 8.18 while Pate had an 8.09.

Pedroso had not really been impressive in the run-up to these championships, while someone like Jamaican James Beckford, who finished seventh with just 8.08m, had started the season confidently. Once he had the crowd behind him - more than 40,000 filled the stands - Pedroso kept widening the leeway from the others.

Stringfellow started with two fouls and with elimination looming large he jumped 8.22 followed by an 8.24, but fouled his last two attempts. The last one was a really big one and until the red flag went up, Pedroso might have had his heart in his mouth.

Unlike Pedroso, Natalya Sadova had not tasted World championship success. The Russian discus thrower was close to a silver last time in Seville but after having maintained her second position till the fourth round was pushed out of the medals bracket in the next two rounds. She was the only one to cross 70 metres that year, but ended up with disappointment at the Worlds.

Saturday turned out to be Sadova's day, however. ``After my first throw I felt strong, but not strong enough to throw much further. Then came a surprise. Every throw I had after that was better,'' Sadova said after she won the gold at 68.57. Olympic champion Ellina Zvereva of Belarus took the silver with 67.10m, while Romanian Nicoleta Grasu had the bronze with 66.24. Defending champion Franka Dietzsch of Germany was fifth while the silver winner at both Seville and the Sydney Olympics, Greek Anastasia Kelesidou was fourth.

Double gold winner at the Sydney Olympics, Robert Korzeniowski of Poland had more than a minute's lead over Spaniard Jesus Angel Garcia as he took the 50km walk gold in a world-leading three hours, 42 minutes 8 seconds. Edgar Hernandez of Mexico won the bronze.

Korzeniowski took over the lead into the 35km mark and never looked back. ``I was surprised that I was able to get away on my own so early. I had expected to make my move after 40km but I think the speed of Aigars Fadejevs when he was trying to catch the leader was so high that I knew we would be killing off other walkers,'' said the Pole.

Another Pole, Tomasz Lipiec had led up to the 25km mark before Fadejevs of Latvia took over only to surrender the lead to Korzeniowski.

The results:

Men: Long jump: 1. Ivan Pedroso (Cub) 8.40m, 2. Savante Stringfellow (US) 8.24, 3. Carlos Calado (Por) 8.21.

50km walk: 1. Robert Korzeniowski (Pol) 3:42:08, 2. Jesus Angel Garcia (Esp) 3:43:07, 3. Edgar Hernandez (Mex) 3:46:12.

Women: 5000m: 1. Olga Yegorova 15:03.39, 2. Marta Dominguez (Esp) 15:06.59, 3. Ayelech Worku (Eth) 15:10.17.

100m hurdles: 1. Anjanette Kirkland (US) 12.42s, 2. Gail Devers (US) 12.54, 3. Olga Shishigina (Kaz) 12.58.

Discus throw: 1. Natalya Sadova (Rus) 68.57m, 2. Ellina Zvereva (Blr) 67.10, 3. Nicoleta Grasu (Rom) 66.24.

4x100m: 1. USA (Kelli White, Chryste Gaines, Inger Miller, Marion Jones) 47.71s, 2. Germany (Melanie Paschke, Gaby Rockmeier, Bridgit Rockmeier, Marion Wagner) 42.32, 3. France (Sylviane Felix, Frederique Bangue, Muriel Hurtis, Odiah Sidibe) 42.39.

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