Francoise Mbango of Cameroon flies through the air, landing at an Olympic record of 15.39m (© Getty Images)
When Françoise Mbango Etone won the 2004 Olympic title in Athens with a last round effort she defied all odds taking her first major international title after no fewer than five silver medals. She did so with a new personal best 15.30m.
Fast forward four years and the Cameroonian found herself in a similar situation heading into her second Olympic Games albeit for different reasons. Having had a poor year in 2005, she took the following two years off to give birth to her son Adna-Niels. Making her competitive comeback less than four months ago with a superb win at the African Championships, she was regarded as the number one outsider in a field which included the best triple jumpers of the moment.
Yet Mbango became the first athlete to defend her Olympic title here in Beijing – Bekele would achieve the same feat later in the evening. She did so in a new personal best, African record and Olympic record 15.39m, the second best jump ever recorded in the history of the event.
The similarities with the Athens competition do not end past the winner as the top three medallists are also a repeat, although silver and bronze were reverted. This time around, World Indoor record holder Tatyana Lebedeva landed silver with a season’s best 15.32m leaving Hrysopiyi Devetzi in third at 15.23m.
"It's the best performance of my life," said the winner. "I am so happy. I believed in myself and I worked hard. I believe I won because I have experience and I took my time with my preparation."
Lebedeva declared: "My goal in the Olympic Games is the gold. I want to try my best, but I was not totally recovered from injury so I'm satisfied with the silver."
All three athletes celebrated going for a joint lap of honour while holding their respective national flags. In fourth Olga Rypakova, of Kazakhstan wept tears of joy having taken the Asian record to 15.11m - an improvement of 42 centimetres on her personal best.
The only one to leave the stadium in distress was reigning World Outdoor and Indoor champion Yargelis Savigne whose 15.05m, in what proved a historical final tonight, was only good enough for fifth!
With Marija Sestak setting a Slovenian record 15.03m in the opening round, the Beijing final will be remembered as the deepest ever in the history of the event. The women’s Triple Jump final has been contested at eight IAAF World Championships in Athletics and three Olympic Games before tonight and never had six women broken the 15-metre barrier!
In fact, Mbango had been in premier position from beginning to end. Jumping ninth, she responded to Sestak’s record and Lebedeva’s opening 15.00m with a clean 15.19m. Meanwhile, Devetzi had opened with 14.96m and Savigne registered her first foul of the evening.
The standings read: Mbango, Sestak, Lebedeva, Devetzi…
Fireworks came in round two with three successive 15m plus marks. First up was Devetzi’s 15.23m, followed Lebedeva’s 15.17m and Mbango’s eventual winner 15.39m. Savigne had earlier recorded her first legal mark at 14.87m and Rypakova concluded the hostilities with 14.83m.
At that point it was: Mbango, Devetzi, Lebedeva, Sestak, Savigne, Rypakova…
Only two athletes improved in the third round. Lebedeva jumped into second with what would remain her best of the evening 15.32m while Rypakova went one better at 14.93m, her second PB of tonight.
At the cut it read: Mbango, Lebedeva, Devetzi, Sestak, Rypakova, Savigne…
With the order reversed in round four, there were more changes in the standings: Savigne leapt past Sestak and Rypakova with 15.05m; Sestak moved down yet another position when Rypakova set the third of four personal bests tonight at 15.03m. Up front, Devetzi fouled, Lebedeva had a poor 14.40m and Mbango recorded her third best of the evening 14.82m.
The scoreboard now showed: Mbango, Lebedeva, Devetzi, Savigne, Rypakova, Sestak…
With the top four athletes recording fouls in round four only Rypakova made an impression. She leapt into fourth with her 15.11m Area record, a position she would not relinquish despite the Cuban's efforts.
Savigne gave her all with her last attempt but tonight wasn’t going to be her night as she landed at a disappointing 14.91m. The 23-year-old held her face in her hands evidently shocked by the disappointment of not delivering the gold medal her whole country was expecting.
As the next three fouled their final attempt, Mbango concluded on a high with 14.88m in what will be remembered as the best ever Triple Jump competition.
Laura Arcoleo for the IAAF
