There must be something about Australia that appeals to Tereza Marinova. Four years ago, the Bulgarian became World Junior Champion in Sydney. Tonight she won Olympic gold, with her first jump of the competition.
Only seven out of the 12 finalists in the women's triple jump final were able to record a valid mark in the first round, and matters weren't helped once the torrential downpour began. World Number 1 Tatyana Lebedeva, of Russia, took the early lead with 14.77, but Marinova had the perfect response. Showing excellent sprint form down the runway, the 23 year-old hit the board perfectly, maintained her horizontal speed and balance through each phase, and landed at 15.20 - a new national record. The wind was -0.3 mps.
But conditions quickly deteriorated as the temperature dropped and heavy rain made the runway slippery, Olena Hovorova managed a personal best 14.96 to move into second place, but World Indoor Champion Ashia Hansen, bandaged on her right ankle and knee, fouled.
In the second round and third rounds, there was no change to the order of the first four, with Marinova and Lebedeva coping best with the conditions. 1997 World Champion Sarka Kasparkova, fouled again as did Hansen. These two athletes needed to find inspiration to avoid missing the cut after the third round, but Kasparkova fouled again and Hansen managed only 13.5, so both were out of the competition.
With three rounds left, there were 8 athletes in contention. But the medal order did not change until the penultimate round, when Lebedeva took advantage of a tailwind of +1.3 mps (the wind was swirling and, at worst, was -2.1 mps) to record a mark of 15.00 and overtake Hovorova. As the Russian got out of the sandpit, she looked anxiously at the judge until he raised the white flag, before whooping with delight.
Then both Lebedeva and Marinova had an anxious wait as Ukrainian had one last chance to turn her bronze medal into something better. Hovorova strided down the runway, hit the board well, and put all her effort into each phase. But although it was a legal jump - at 14.74 - it was not good enough. Marinova was officially Olympic champion, and narrowly fouled her fifth consecutive effort before hugging her coach in the crowd. One golden jump was all she had needed.
