Daegu day 6: curse unbroken, not droughts

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By Len Johnson

It’s a moot point whether or not the curse of the Daegu daily program has been broken, or not, but two gold medal droughts were very definitely broken with a strong showing by the USA on day six of the world championships.

Jesse Williams, the world leader, but a spotty performer at major championships to date, jumped pretty well flawlessly to win the gold medal in the men’s high jump. Once the USA used to fight out the high jump medals with those pesky Soviets, but neither the Soviet Union nor US world championships high jump domination have been round for some time.

In fact, it was 1991 in Tokyo, the same year the former USSR competed as the Unified Team (a misnomer only a diplomat could have come up with), that an American took a world championships medal in the men’s high jump.

Charles Austin won and his teammate Hollis Conway was third. A lanky young Australian named Tim Forsyth distinguished himself mainly by mucking around with an Australian Rules football between jumps in the qualifying competition. His Olympic bronze medal would come a year later in Barcelona.

Anyway, since then, nothing for the US at world championships level. Until Williams, that is.

The other drought has lasted even longer. Jennifer Barringer Simpson, an outsider even in a wide-open women’s 1500 metres, strode down the outside of the field in the final straight to win the women’s 1500 metres gold medal.

Following in Simpson’s wake came Hannah England of Britain, also not widely discussed as a medal prospect. So gold and silver went to outsiders, when pretty much each of the other 10 was tipped as a potential winner. Morgan Uceny and Kenya’s sole finalist Hellen Obiri helped simplify matters by falling over, Maryam Jamal by tailing off last.

The last US woman to win the 1500, indeed the only one, was Mary Decker, who in Helsinki 1983 produced two magnificent performances to turn back the might of the Soviet Union in both the 1500 and 3000 metres.

Decker’s 1500 win was particularly notable. She led, until Zamira Zaitseva pounced on the final bend, cut in sharply (causing Decker to almost stop running) and then opened up a five-metre lead. Decker clawed her way back up the straight, regained the lead, and left Zaitseva literally sprawling as she lost balance in her desperate lunge over the final 10 metres. It was a win by knock-out. Check it out for yourself, it’s worth it.

Lashinda Demus, there or thereabouts in the 400 hurdles since the 2004 Olympics, broke her own mini-drought with a win in the women’s 400 hurdles in 52.47. Three golds for the USA on the night, so it was definitely their day.

The other medallists on the night were Britain’s David Greene in the men’s 400 hurdles, adding a world championships gold to his European, Commonwealth and Continental Cup wins to close 2010. Olha Saladuha of Ukraine in the triple jump and Ezekiel Kemboi of Kenya in the steeple, who made up for the absence of a Bolt win (so far), with his own impromptu dance celebration.

It must be said, thought, that shirt-off Kemboi is a far more entertaining sight than an impressive one.

Now, the curse – some say it was broken yesterday by Olga Kaniskina in the women’s 20km walk. It must be said, however, that the walk is not in-stadium, that there was only one event conducted on day five (otherwise a rest day), so there was no editorial choice to be made between event favourites. Finally, where else but Korea would they produce a daily program for just one event.

So the High Court ruling was that the curse was torn, but not ruptured.

Well, it’s back. The day six choice was Yargeris Savigne in the women’s triple jump, going for three world titles in a row. She was the dominant performer, albeit the top of the event was close.

You know what happened to Savigne, don’t you? Finished after three jumps with a compression bandage the size of a bath towel wrapped round her right thigh. She couldn’t take a trick, much less a hat-trick.

The big question for day seven is whether Usain Bolt will grace the cover. He’s the biggest athlete in the world, he was disqualified from the final of the 100, and he is running the heats and semis of the 200. As the biggest story of the day, surely he has to be on the cover, even if he has already been a ‘victim’ of the curse.

Who better to break the curse. If Bolt can’t do it at the second attempt, no-one can.