Yargelis Savigne turned silver into gold at the Nagai Stadium this evening as she hopped, stepped and jumped out to 15.28m to take the Women’s Triple Jump title and give Cuba its first gold medal of the Osaka World Championships.
Only five women have ever jumped further than Savigne did in the first round here, a leap that denied Tatyana Lebedeva a first long and triple jump double and buried her ambitions to regain the title she won in 2001 and 2003.
“I always believed I could jump more than 15 metres,” said the 22-year-old who’s early effort all but killed the competition from the start. “My first jump was very important and I tried to jump far in order to lead.
“With 15.28 I was comfortable. I knew I was safe. After that I tried to break the world record, but in vain.”
Lebedeva had to be satisfied with the silver after jumping 15.07 in round five.
The double was a feat she half-completed two years ago in Helsinki before injury forced her to pull out of the triple jump final just days after taking her first long jump crown. No doubt it will be little consolation for the 31-year-old but this medal makes her the most decorated athlete ever in this event.
“It’s life, I wanted the second gold,” shrugged Lebedeva, who claimed she was jumping with ankle pain. “The Cuban jumper was more fresh than me. I did not expect her to jump over 15.20, that was too much.
“I was already tired enough, but it is good motivation for the Olympics,” she added, suggesting she will go for the double again in Beijing.
Chrisopiyi Devetzi, who led briefly in the first round with 15.04 and lay in silver medal position until round five, was left with the bronze. She simply couldn’t improve on her opening effort. After eighth in 2003 and fifth two years ago, it was an improvement for the Greek Olympic silver medallist, but she’s yet to win a major title.
“I tried,” she said. “I had difficulties with my take off but it’s still good to get a medal for my country.”
It may have been the coolest and breeziest night so far in Osaka, but with two 15m jumps in the first round, this competition was hot from the word go.
Devetzi, her hair scrunched into bunches, ignited the fire with the second jump of the competition, breaching 15 metres with her very first effort. It had been clear from the qualifying competition that the European silver medallist was in form. The Greek leapt to 15.09m to lead the qualifiers and she was close to that this time with an effortless 15.04m.
Lebedeva responded well with 14.75m but she already knew she had a fight on her hands. That was confirmed when Slovenia’s Marija Sestak leapt 14.72. And it was cemented beyond all doubt as Savigne made her bid for gold with 15.28m.
Wearing long white socks, she powered down the runway to produce the longest jump by anyone in 2007, just a centimetre short of the Cuban record and the sixth best of all time. It improved her personal best by 19cm. Talk about putting down a marker.
Savigne’s super jump certainly seemed to take the wind out of Devetzi, who fouled her second attempt. Indeed, she fouled the next four. And while Lebedeva improved to 14.79 in the second round there was no change in her position.
No one improved in the third, but Lebedeva was nothing if not consistent as she landed at 14.78.
Anna Pyatykh, who’s almost been elminated after fouls in the first two rounds, now almost pushed her teammate out of the medals in round four, falling just a centimetre short with 14.78.
That seemed to spur Lebedeva back into life. After a long foul in round four, she leapt out to 15.07 in round five, shooting into silver by just 3cm.
As the last round ticked away, Savigne hung her head over the advertising boards at the side of the arena, and wandered up and down at the side of the runway, nervously adjusting her shorts.
One-by-one her opponents tried; one-by-one they failed to get near her. Pyatyukh jumped 14.88, her best of the year but only enough for fourth. After four fouls Devetzi eventually got one on the board. It was good, but at 14.75, not good enough. She had to settle for bronze.
As Lebedeva prepared to jump, Savigne couldn’t look, burying her head in her arms.
In 2001, the Russian had tried to dye her hair in the three colours of the Russian flag. There was nothing so daring this time, just the fuzzy red mop she’s been sporting all week and a white sweat band on her right wrist. She brought it above her head, encouraging the crowd to clap.
The Russian’s impressive series ended with the fourth 15m jump of the competition. But as she sat in the sand, Lebedeva turned to look at the dent she’d made and knew it wasn’t enough.
She shook her head. The scoreboard confirmed it, 15.01m. All but one of her jumps had been 14.75 or better, and she still hadn’t won.
Savigne passed up the chance to make one last glopry jump. How could she improve on what she’d done? Cuba has twice had a silver medallist at this event, but never the gold. Grabbing the Cuban flag she set off on a lap of honour.
“This medal is a big surprise and very important for me and for Cuba,” she said.
Only once before in World Championships history have three women jumped more than 15m, and that was in 1995 when Ukraine’s Inessa Kravets set the world record.
Osaka 2007 News Team/mkb
