Athens, Greece30 minutes before Xiang Liu honoured the Athletics competitions of the Games of the XXVIII with their second (equalled) World record, Cuba’s Osleidys Menendez, came within one centimetre of her own women’s World Javelin record.
Her first round throw of 71.53, an Olympic record knocked the stuffing out of tonight’s final, and after its release the other eleven competitors were only battling for silver and bronze.
There has only ever been one other 70m plus throw in the history of the ‘new’ women’s spear, and that was the 71.53 with which the Cuban had set the current world mark on 1 July 2001.
Menendez, 24, also put down a good series behind her win tonight, with th exception of the usual, as to be expected, foul coming after the high of such an enormous throw. The 2001 World champion who had finished a lowly fifth at the Worlds last summer, completed her series with 65.41, 68.60, 63.64, and a pass in the last round, as throwing last for the final three throws the gold was already decided by her sixth round attempt.
Germany’s Steffi Nerius, the World bronze medallist was the second best of the first series of throws (63.02) but that was overtaken in the next round first by Greek World champion Mirela Manjani (63.61), and then the Czech Nikola Brejchova (63.77).
The 30 year-old Brejchova who was eighth in Sydney is the last person to have beaten Menendez, in Linz earlier this summer, and she went on to solidify the silver medal position in round three with a 64.23m throw.
And so the medal position remained the same for the fourth and fifth rounds, Menendez, Brejchova, and Manjani, with Nerius in fourth position improving to 63.60 with her penultimate release.
However, the final round really shook up the minor medals.
First, the seventh best thrower of the night coming into the final round was Cuba’s Sonia Bisset, and she rose to fifth with 63.54.
The Cuban’s throw was a portent of the disaster which was about to befall Brejchova, as stepping up three throwers later, Nerius, who took the World bronze in Paris, blasted out a personal best of 65.82, which at the age of 32 must even have come as a surprise to the ever smiling German.
So Brejchova was now down to third, and Manjani was off the podium.
Yet with shouts of ‘Hellas-Hellas-Hellas’ ringing round the stadium, Manjani who had only thrown 58.92m prior to these Games this summer because of injury, rose to the occasion and set a season’s best of 64.29 to snatch back third.
The Czech had now descended two positions in the course of two throws and must have been totally demoralised, as she picked up her spear for the last time. A credible throw of 62.55 was the result but that was far short of the new medal zone, and the eleven time Czech champion, who was fourth at the 2001 Worlds had to settle again for the most frustrating of finishing positions for any athlete.
The only other notable mark of the night was Commonwealth champion Eve Laverne’s season’s best of 62.77 which secured sixth place.
CT
