News30 Aug 2003


Manjani – dancing and sprinting to gold

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Mirela Manjani of Greece celebrates winning the javelin gold medal (© Getty Images)

Greece's Mirela Manjani added the World title to the European crown she won in Munich last summer, recapturing the World title which she won in Seville in 1999, and is fast developing an impeccable championships record, having also taken the silver in Sydney and in Edmonton.

Her winning throw of 66.52m tonight came in the fourth round and was a world season’s lead but in reality the competition was hers from her very first release of 64.55m, which was greater than anything her competitors could manage the whole evening.

Throwing the sixth of the twelve competitors in the final, Manjani who is 26 years old, recaptured the World title with a superbly consistent series of 64.55, 64.46, 64.09, 66.52, foul, 56.84.

To gauge the level of the Manjani’s brilliance, no one else managed to throw beyond 63.28 metres, which was the distance at which Tatyana Shikolenko of Russia with a third round throw ultimately snatched silver. Bronze went to Germany's Steffi Nerius with 62.70m

Significantly, ‘Manjani’ is the name of an African ritual dance, a rites of passage celebration of a woman’s strength and feminine power, and that is exactly what we witnessed in Manjani's performance this evening.

Manjani has a strong fast throwing arm but also the blond flowing hair and Hellenic features of a goddess of Olympus, despite her Albanian birthplace. Strength and beauty personified.

While Manjani faces criticism in some quarters for not competing much outside major championships, Paris 2003 was only her fourth competition this summer, she is without dispute the consummate big time competitor. Nothing seems to phase her in a major championships arena, a discipline perhaps which derives from her profession as a naval officer.

There was family encouragement in the stade for Manjani for the very first time in a major championship. Her brother, who plays football was in the spectator tribune and immediately after the competition was over Manjani ran to where he was sitting, and leaning over the barrier they hugged each other.

It's a pity so little was previously known about Manjani because she currently has a boy friend who is French by birth. It is certain that had this fact been more widely known that she could have counted on extra support given the infectiously partisan but good humoured support which has been given to all French athletes during these championships.

“This is the first time any member of my family has come to watch me compete at a major championships, so it made my win really special.”

Manjani might be the name of a dance but the World champion in fact sprinted to gold. Her background in the sport as a child was as a sprinter.

”Basically I fell into this event (javelin) by accident. When I was twelve I just picked up a javelin one day and threw it for fun. Before that point I had been a 100 and 200m runner, as my father is a sprint coach.”

“When I had taken this practice throw, my father was impressed, and so that was the beginning for me. I continued doing a lot of other events because that was important for my body’s development as I was still very young but realistically from that point in my life I have been a thrower.”

Immediately, Manjani was off the infield tonight the focus moved to next year's Athens Olympics.

“I know everybody expects me to win in Athens next year, which puts a lot of pressure on me already. I am not afraid of this, but I have to work harder to make sure I can medal in front of my home crowd.”

And given Manjani’s major championship record, she is more than likely to dancing to the same winning tune in the Olympic stadium next summer.

IAAF

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