Russia’s 2001 World champion Natalya Sadova capitalised on what was a simply played-out final to become the Olympic women’s Discus champion with a throw of 67.02 tonight.
For the 32 year-old who is coached by her husband, it was sweet revenge for what had occurred four years before in Sydney, as two of the women who kept her out of the medals on that occasion (she finished in fourth pace) were again her main opponents this evening.
The first round was a placid affair. There was to be no opening knock-out from any of the field. In fact Sadova’s 64.78 was enough to head a very meager offering from all the finalists.
The second round attempts boosted the competition a bit, as Czech Vera Cechlova’s 66.08 – ultimately secured fourth place - brought the first quality to the competition. The standings were made a little more interesting when reigning World champion Irina Yatchenko of Belarus edged in front with her third release of 66.17 (ultimately good enough).
The three Greeks finalists had until the end of the second round - throwing in ninth, tenth and eleventh positions - remained pretty silent in their response to the Czech and the Russian’s efforts. The best of the trio was 2000 Olympic silver medallist Anastasia Kelesidou whose 62.77 had her positioned in fifth after her second throw.
With European champion Ekaterini Voggoli limply throwing 61.44 for eighth (2nd round) and following that up with a foul in the third, the Greek crowd had gone silent but as the next thrower Kelesidou entered the ring the mood changed dramatically as her 66.68 spun into gold medal position.
The roars of “Hellas”, “Hellas”, “Hellas” echoed round the packed 70,000 seater stadium. With one swift spin in the circle this competition had come alive.
But it was a brief moment, as no one responded to Kelesidou’s advancement in what was a disappointing series of throws in the fourth round, the point at which the competition should have really come alive. The leader could manage no better than 63.71 and Yatchenko 63.46. The only one who had showed a significant upturn in their competition was Sadova who improved to 65.33, to consolidate fourth.
In hindsight the fourth round was the defining moment of this final. This had been the opportunity for Kelesidou to hit home her advantage from the confidence of a gold medal position, and in her inability to advance her lead, was born her eventual demise.
The Greek’s moment had past, and with a lead of just 51cm and opponents of the standard of Yatchenko and Sadova close on her tail the competition was anything but over.
The fifth round proved the point. Up stepped Sadova, and with an extremely smooth throw of 67.02, which seemed to go unnoticed by the crowd, Greece’s heroine was knocked off the top rung of the podium, never to return.
Kelesidou responded well with 66.09, her second best throw of the night but when in the final round Sadova matched her Greek opponents overall competition best with her own identical 66.68m release, it demonstrated that the Russian deserved her gold medal position.
With the stadium in uproar, singing along to Abba’s “Dancing Queen” in response to the lap of honour which was underway to celebrate a brilliant Heptathlon victory of Sweden’s Carolina Klüft, the moment of Kelesidou’s final chance for glory, the last throw of the night, seemed about to be lost by even the most partisan in the stadium.
Thankfully though the chants of “Hellas”, “Hellas”, “Hellas” rang out once more to top this final out in most appropriate style, but not even this encouragement was enough, and Kelesidou had to settle for silver. Her throw was 61.59. The Greek bubble of hope had burst, and Sadova had won the Olympic title, eight years after she had picked up the Olympic silver in Atlanta.
Greece of course had still taken their first medal of the Athletics competition of the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, while Belarus settled for bronze thanks to Yatchenko's third round effort.
"I was trying to stay cool but it was hard with all that crowd cheering for the Greek athletes,"confirmed Sadova. "I focussed on Kelesiduo and I was praying to God that it would be me who won the gold medal."
The silver medallist was also delighted -
"My goal was a medal in the Olympics," said Kelesidou. "This is my second silver medal in the Olympic Games and I still feel extreemely happy about that. It's tremendous that the people here almost set alight the stadium with their encouragement. This is like a dream to me."
While Yatchenko in third was also satisfied -
"This is the most important medal of my life because it is an Olympic medal. I was hoping for something a little better but at the end of the day I am very pleased with this performance," confirmed the Belarussian.
CT
