Naide Gomes, of Portugal, did not win any one of the five disciplines of the pentathlon here at the 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships, but proved that consistency counts, as she took the gold medal with the best score of her life.
Gomes’s hard work in the first four events had given her a points advantage worth approximately four seconds in the final 800 metres run over her closest rivals, Natalya Dobrynska, of the Ukraine.
Dobrynska, a tall 21-year-old, certainly did not look like a former shot putter as she attacked with just over a lap to run, giving chase to Karin Ruckstuhl, the early pace setter, and Tia Hellebaut.
But Gomes was able to watch her rivals’ every move in a controlled and disciplined performance that tied up the world title, scoring a total 4759pts, as the first four women all set national records.
Hellebaut, from Belgium, won her second event of the day, clocking 2min 18.53sec. But with each second’s advantage in the 800m worth only around 15pts, this was not enough for her to threaten the medal positions.
Dobryska set her fourth personal best (ironically, the one discipline where she has performed better in the past than she did today, was her former specialisation, the shot put), with 2:19.45 for a final total of 4727 - but she would have needed to run another two seconds faster to have overhauled Gomes.
Dobrynska, in her first senior international championship, was delighted with her silver medal, while Lithuania’s American-based Austra Skujte did enough to hold off Ruckstuhl for the bronze medal, Skujte scoring 4679 to the Dutchwoman’s 4640.
Gomes took Portuguese citizenship in 2001 and has competed for her adopted country ever since. But her victory will still be acclaimed in Sao Tome and Principe, the tiny African territory where Gomes was born 24 years ago.
The west African island state comprises barely 1000 square kilometres, with a population of 176,000. And Gomes is their first world champion in any sport.
