Dwight Phillips of the US celebrates winning the Long Jump final (© Getty Images)
“Athina 2005” IAAF Permit Meeting Preview
Just six months after the Olympic Games many Olympians return to Athens for the annual version of the IAAF Permit Meeting “Athina 2005”, to be held on Sunday in the Indoor Stadium of Peania, a suburb of Athens.
Last year, the meeting reserved a World indoor record by Svetlana Feofanova and numerous top performances. On Sunday, a few days before the European Indoor Championships, the meeting gives to the participants an opportunity of a world class competition, while enough Greeks will have one more chance to set the standards for Madrid.
Yamile Aldama returns to wipe out the bad memories
In August, Sudan’s Yamile Aldama failed to be on the podium of the Olympic Games, although she arrived to the Greek Capital being among the favourites for the Triple Jump crown. Having a personal best of 15.28m from outdoor season, she tops the entrants of the meeting, although she will be challenged by another athlete who has recently exceeded the 15m, Jamaica’s Trecia Smith.
The strong roster of the event also includes Romania’s Adelina Gavrila, the winner of the Triple Jump at the Balkan Games held last Sunday in the same stadium with 14.33m. The Romanian champion has been on the top of the world list this season, with her jump of 14.58m achieved during the national championships earlier this month.
Finally, two young Greeks with personal best over the 14m., Irene Dimitraki and Athanassia Perra, have confirmed their participation in the meeting.
Dwight Phillips enters the 60m dash
The Long Jump Olympic Champion, Dwight Phillips, confirmed his participation in the 60m dash race, where he has a personal best of 6.55. Cuba’s Freddy Mayola and Nigeria’s Uchena Emedolu and Olusoji Fasuba are the main contenders for the win among the other athletes.
An unexpected injury during the Balkan Championships deprives Georgios Theodoridis, the bronze medallist from last year’s World Indoor Championships, of the opportunity to compete in this race.
Now, the Greek Champion has to fight against the time in order to make the European Championships at the beginning of March. But two other Greeks the 20-year-old Efthimios Stergioulis, with a season’s best of 6.67 and the more experienced Aristidis Petridis will run, attempting to achieve the qualifying standard for the European Championships.
In the women’s race, the Russian champion Olga Fedorova with 7.20 this season will run against the 20-year-old Maria Karastamati of Greece, who set a personal best of 7.24 last Sunday.
The young sprinter is considered to be one of the hot prospects of Greek athletics for the future, and she does not hide her big ambitions in the sport.
“I improve my technique from race to race,” she said after the Balkan Games. “I’m going on dreaming. This year I want to make the final in Madrid.”
Nieto vs Sokolovskiy vs Fomenko
America’s Jamie Nieto, fourth in the Olympic Games last summer, will meet again with Ukraine’s Andrei Sokolovkyi, 5th in Athens and the 4th World performer this year with 2.33m, as well as with Pavel Fomenko of Russia who has cleared 2.31m this season.
Serbia’s Dragutin Topic who cleared 2.31m in the Balkan Championships, a performance which gave him the title of the “Athlete of the Games”, will also take part in the meeting targetting higher jumps.
Romania’s Stefan Vasilace, bronze medallist in the World Indoor Championships in Budapest last year, comes to strengthen even more the starting list of the event that is expected to be one of the most interesting events of the meeting.
Top entries in middle distance races
Some world top athletes are among the participants in the middle distance events, both in the men and the women.
The best 800m runner in 2004, Kenya’s Wilfred Bungei will face with the second runner of last season, Burundi’s Youssef Saad Kamel and also Morocco’s Amine Laalou in a race expected to produce some top performances.
The best European 1500m runner of the past few seasons, Ukraine’s Ivan Heshko, fifth in the Olympic Games and silver medallist in Budapest last year, is among the most well known entries of the meeting, while Kenya’s star Daniel Komen Chipchirchir, who set a 1500m World leading performance of 3:33.08 last week in Karlsruhe, is entered in the 3000m race.
In the women’s 1500m., 2004 World Indoor Champion Ethiopia’s Kutre Duleca returns to the hall where she won last year setting a season’s best performance.
Russia’s Irina Shevchenko and Jamaica’s Michelle Freeman have arrived in Athens to participate in the women’s 60m Hurdles. Both have set top performances in this season, currently being in 2nd and 5th positions in the World list respectively. Greece’s Flora Redoumi, who has already made the standard for Madrid with 8.07, will be a considerable rival for them.
The men’s entry list has to present some brilliant names, among which Sydney’s Olympic Champion Anier Garcia of Cuba, his compatriot Yoel Hernandez, Canada’s Charles Allen who was 6th at the Athens Olympics and Haiti’s Dundley Dorrival, the bronze medallist of the 2001 World Championships.
Other events
There are more interesting entrants in almost all the other events of the meeting. Last year, USA’s Christian Cantwell became the 8th all time world shot putter with 22.54m, but his failure at the Olympic trials deprived him from a unique chance: that of becoming the only Olympic Champion of the Modern Era to win the title within the ancient stadium of Olympia. This year the American has a season’s best of 21.06m and tops the starting list of the Shot Put.
In the Long Jump, Ukraine’s Viktor Kuznyetsov, the World season leader at 8.22m although still a junior, competes against Greece’s Luis Tsatoumas, the 2001 European Under 23 champion, who broke the national record this season with 8.15m. The second Ukrainian Valeriy Vasiliev and Romania’s Bogdan Tarus, both with personal bests over the 8 metres, are among the entries of the event.
One more World leading athlete, Russia’s Olessya Krasnomovets enters the 400m to run against Ukraine’s Antonija Yevremova, while James Davies of the USA and Dominica’s Chris Lloyd are the most significant participants in the men’s race.
In the pole vault Russia's Natalya Belinskaya has the better season's best among the athletes competing. Her main rivals are American Mary Sauer, China's Yingying Zhao and Hungary's Krisztina Molnar. It is likely that 15-year-old Katerina Stefanidi, who set national youth and junior record for Greece at the Balkan Games with a clearance of 4.25m, will also take part.
Michalis Nikitaridis for the IAAF
