News02 Sep 2004


Isinbayeva leads the field for August – Athletes give of their best in Athens

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Yelena Isinbayeva celebrates winning Olympic gold (© Getty Images)

The Olympic Games in Athens supplied all the exceptional results for August 2004, such as that of Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva. The 22-year-old improved her own pole-vault world record by a centimetre in Athens to 4.91m (1608 points) and clinched the Top Women Performer of the month award for the second straight month.

On the men’s side it was Xiang Liu of China who equaled Colin Jackson’s world record over the 110m hurdles with 12.91seconds (1594 points) to take home the gold. Liu was not the only Chinese athlete to excel, Huina Xing won the women’s 10,000m with 30:24.36 (1547 points) to be the best female performer on the track. World Champion Dwight Phillips added an Olympic title to his collection, as well as becoming the best field performer of the month by winning the long jump with 8.59m (1545 points).

The best female Road Running performance belongs to Japan’s Mizuki Noguchi, and Stefano Baldini of Italy turned in the highest points in the past four weeks for the men on the road.
 
In the Race Walking department, Robert Korzeniowski of Poland proved to be better than the rest, and Athanasia Tsoumeleka of Greece took advantage of walking on home asphalt not only to win the women’s 20km Olympic gold but also to be the best in the month.

Last but not least, the Top Junior Performers of the month must be noted also. Kenya’s Brimin Kipruto had the top male performance and young US sprinter Allyson Felix was the top female junior performer in the month of August.

In the “Weeks on top” category Mozambique’s Maria Mutola is now the lone leader with 192 continuous weeks, having been ranked number one in her Event Rankings since the introduction of the IAAF system in January 2001. Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco was on par with Mutola in this race but lost his position to Bernard Lagat a week ago allowing his streak to come to an unexpected end.

The IAAF World Rankings “Top performer of the month” is released on the first week of each month collecting the results of the previous four weeks and dividing them into the above categories. These top performances can well endanger the event leaders, as some of them have been ranked number one for a long time. Via the link below you may also find the top six male and female athletes who have been leading their respective Event Rankings for the most consecutive weeks. The IAAF World Rankings have been published since 1 January 2001.

Click here to see the Top Performers of August

 

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