Cuba's triple Hammer dream for Helsinki

Havana, CubaTwo World titles and two Olympic medals clearly show how much Cuban women have improved in the Hammer Throw, just 10 years after they first took up the event and the women's discipline was recognised for World record purposes (1 Jan 1995). And now, on the road to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, they want to see three of their women in this summer’s World Championships final in Helsinki.

Youthful squad of talent

Double World champion Yipsi Moreno and Olympic bronze medallist Yunaika Crawford lead a team who also features Aldenay Vasallo, who is very close to the 70m mark, and the junior Arasay Thondike. They are all trained by two former Hammer throwers, national head coach Eladio Hernandez and national record holder Alberto Sanchez.

Thondike, still 18, is only 19cm short of the national junior record (66.34), set by Moreno in 1999, and she is a strong candidate to move up to higher levels in the near future.

They are all young. Vasallo, at 27, is the oldest, followed by Moreno (24) and Crawford (22). Other young athletes, Indira Salinas (19), Daimara Rovira (19) and Damisela Aguilera (20) who also make up the group also already have personal bests of over 60 metres.

”I treat all my athletes equally. They work hard and deserve to be in the top, but the women's Hammer has improved a lot lately, especially last year,” commented coach Hernandez, who himself was a 73.44m Hammer thrower in the early 1990's.

I have learnt a lot from Athens

After a long rest following the Olympic Games, Moreno sprained her right ankle and had to stop training for several weeks but she is now back to full training and is expected to make her season debut during the Barrientos Memorial in Havana in late May.

Moreno, the current IAAF World Rankings event leader was the favourite for the Olympic gold, but her nerves betrayed her and she had to be content with a silver, behind Russia's Olga Kuzenkova.

”I have learned a lot from Athens,” confirmed Moreno. That was my first defeat since June 2003. I already have the experience of three World championships, but the Olympics are a different thing", explained Moreno who was fourth in Sydney when still only 19 years of age.

The Olympic "failure" in Athens last summer was compensated in some way by a second medal for Cuba in the same event (Crawford), an accomplishment never achieved by Cuban women in any sport at the Olympic Games.

If she was to obtain a win in the Finnish capital this summer, Moreno would be the first Latin American woman to claim three World titles, following her victories in Edmonton 2001 and Paris 2003. She is currently tied with her countrywoman Ana Fidelia Quirot, who won the 800m final in Gothenburg'95 and Athens'97, for the best all-time record for Latin American female athletes.

”The foot injury affected me a bit as I had to stop training for a while. I just want to stay healthy and take one competition at a time. I know I am the defending champion, but I don't want to think much about it and add too much pressure on myself, “Moreno confirmed.

”The World record? It's there and records are meant to be broken. It is one of my major goals, but it will happen when it happens,’ stated Moreno, whose Area record of 75.18 (2004) ranks her third on the all-time list, behind Romania's Mihaela Melinte (76.07 in 1999) and Kuzenkova (75.68 in 2000).

A second medallist

Crawford, a surprising third in the Greek capital, opened her 2005 season with 68.11m and added a metre to win her first national title with a 69.30m release.

”It is a good start, but I still have to work on technical errors, especially moving my right leg faster,” confirmed Crawford. “I want to forget a disappointing performance in the previous World Championships in Paris - she did not qualify for the final - with a medal in Helsinki.”

The 22-year old from Havana had a breakthrough 2004, when she improved her personal best by more than two metres on the right day to claim the Olympic bronze in Athens.

”A medal in Helsinki is possible and we train to reach our best form as there are many good athletes for just three medals,” she added.

Junior on the up

Vasallo, who has a personal best of 69.72 from 2003, is yet to start her competitive campaign this year due to a minor injury. In her temporary absence, the junior, Thondike has improved substantially (63.71 in 2004 to 66.15 in 2005) and is set to keep up with the successful path of her training partners.

”I know I have the national junior record in my hands and I am sure I can break it in the next few months. I have a great opportunity to train with two Olympic medallists and under the guidance of a great coach, Eladio Hernandez,’ confirmed Thondike.

The 18-year old was seventh at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada (2003). She wants to take the national junior standard over 67 metres and claim the Pan American Junior title in Canada, in July.

Seeking number three

So a third woman is needed to compete coach Hernandez' dream of seeing three Cuban female throwers in a World final, as their female Javelin throwing compatriots have done in Sydney'2000, Athens'2004, Edmonton'2001 and other top contests.

Vasallo has thrown well at home, but has been quite far from her best form in major events and obviously was very distant from the qualifying marks in the 2003 Worlds and the 2004 Olympics.

Thondike has made great progress, but it remains to be seen how she would react versus the world's best. Osaka 2007 would find her more mature.

With new young athletes practicing the Hammer Throw, it has become more difficult to make it to the top 12 in major events worldwide. For instance, the 12th woman qualified for the World Championship final in Paris needed 66.02. A year later in Athens, the cut-off was made at 68.27. Two other women with throws over 68 meters did not qualify for the Olympic final! The climax came in the Olympic Final, when the seventh placed athlete threw 72.03, a result good enough for the World silver a year earlier in the French capital.

In the first three months of the year, two 22-year old women have joined the 71-meter club: Russia's season leader Yekaterina Khoroshikh (71.28) and Croatia's Ivana Brkljacic (71.00), winner of the European Winter Throwing Challenge in Mersin, Turkey.  World record holder Mihaela Melinte (70.40) and Olympic champion Olga Kuzenkova (70.11) have also shown a good early-season form.
 
History of the women's Hammer Throw in Cuba

The Hammer throw was introduced to Cuban women in 1994 and the first national record holder was Olympic basketball player Yamile Martinez with a 42-metre plus effort. Shot putter Norbi Balanten took up the event and dominated the first four national championships (1995-1998).

In 1998, Aldenay Vasallo claimed the first event gold at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Maracaibo, Venezuela, where Balanten was third. The latter held the national record at 63.20 until 1998, before Moreno, who started her international career with the Pan American junior gold in Havana'97, took over with her World Junior record of 66.34 in Mexico City, in June 1999.

Today, six of the top 10 ranked women in the Central American and Caribbean all-time list are Cuban. At a continental level, the Pan American title is also in Cubans' hands.

Javier Clavelo Robinson