Sean WallaceJones for IAAF
24 September 2000 - Little known Russian high jumper Sergey Klyugin profited from a downpour at the Stadium Australia to clinch victory in the high jump ahead of Cuba's Javier Sotomayor and another newcomer on the international scene, Algerian Abderrahmane Hammad.
Despite a year's absence from competition due to suspension for a positive finding for cocaine, Sotomayor, who is the world record holder for the discipline, was one of the favourites for gold here this evening.
The other favourite was Klyugin's countryman and sometime training partner Vyacheslav Voronin, the best performer of the year. But Voronin struggled from the start and went out after three failures at 2.32.
For Klyugin, who won the competition with a clearance of 2.35, the rain had a big part to play in his victory: "It is the most amazing thing! I was talking with my coach this morning and he told me that if I jumped 2.35 and it was raining I would win the gold medal.
"It's not the first time it has happened this way, I won at two Grand Prix meetings when it was raining too. It is really lucky for me!"
Klyugin trains with Voronin and the two share the same coach, Alexandr Bourt.
The neo Olympic champion had gone into the competition convinced that Voronin would take the gold: "Vyacheslav was always a bit of a hero for me and I really believed that he would win this competition.
"Then the rain came and I really lucked out. I also think that Voronin was a bit upset because his wife was not able to make the trip and he says that he always competes better when she is with him."
Silver medallist Javier Sotomayor said that he was happy with his silver medal, but would have been happier if it had been the gold:" I think this will definitely be my last Olympics and it would have been nice to go out with a gold medal.
"I would have liked to have cleared 2.35, or even 2.38, but then we had the rain and bad weather."
Bronze medallist Abderrahmane Hammad, was more than satisfied with his bronze medal: "at my second attempt at 2.29, I was sure that I would medal," said the quiet 23-year-old, who is the holder of the African continental record of 2.34, set at the African Championships in July this year and currently positioned 7th in the IAAF top performance lists for 2000. Hammad has a promising career ahead of him.
