SPORTSLINE
by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
World Track and Field Championships
At the International Amateur Athletic Federation's world track and field championships held on August 1-10 in Athens, Ukraine maintained its high profile in athletics, thanks to the headline-making heroics of Sergey Bubka and Zhanna Pintusevych, and less favorably, due to the ignominy of Oleksander Bohach's failure of a drug test.
On the final day of competition, Mr. Bubka confounded critics who suggested he was avoiding competition and milking his reputation for sponsorships, rebounded from surgery on his Achilles tendon last December, and took gold in the pole vault for the sixth straight year in a row with a championship record height of 6.01 meters.
The Associated Press agency's pick for "Quote of the Day" on August 10 was a word from the Luhansk native: "After Atlanta, many said, 'he's finished, he's dead.' Maybe for that reason, I tried to find motivation and come back."
(For further details, please see the front page report in The Weekly's August 17 issue.)
Triumphing in the women's 200-meters on August 9, Ms. Pintusevych, a Nizhyn-born sprinter capable of explosive power in the last few meters, also left her mark.
Claiming a gold in the 200 and silver in the 100, she came just a vest's width away from repeating at the world championships what current Ukrainian sports minister Valeriy Borzov achieved at the Munich Olympics in 1972 - double gold, in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints.
Mr. Bohach reigned briefly as the world champion in the shot put, but became one of two medalists at this competition to be stripped of their prizes after IAAF officials determined that "pseudo-ephedrine," a banned substance, was detected in a post-competition test.
The championships produced five positive drug tests, including Mr. Bohach of Ukraine and women's 10-kilometer walk silver medalist Olimpiada Ivanova of Russia.
Despite maintaining his innocence, Mr. Bohach became the first athlete to be stripped of a gold medal at a world championship. Canada's Ben Johnson was stripped of his 1987 world 100-meter title and world record, but that decision was taken retroactively after he tested positive at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and admitted he had been taking steroids throughout.
The shot put gold medal was handed to John Godina of the U.S., who had received a wild card entry as defending champion.
The Pintusevych saga - 100-meters
The North American media have long exhibited a Western Hemispheric slant to their reportage of the sprints, and nowhere was this more in evidence than in their constant "surprise" at Ms. Pintusevych's strong performance at these championships. They shouldn't have been surprised.
Born on July 6, 1972, barely a month before Mr. Borzov's double Olympic triumph, she won the silver in the 200-meters at the European Championships in Helsinki in 1994. Before that, her major claim to fame was that she briefly held the world indoor 50-meters record of 6.09 seconds in 1993. She is married to hurdler Ihor Pintusevych, a bronze medalist at the world junior athletics championships in the 110-meters hurdles in 1992.
In the 100-meters event, the 25-year-old served notice on August 2, the second day of competition, by scorching her first heat opponents. (Time: 11.01 seconds.) In the second round, the Nizhyn native turned the heat up further, posting a 10.90, the best that day, and got the attention of Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Before the final of the race that confers the title "world's fastest woman," Merlene Ottey of Jamaica, at 37 the oldest athlete at the championships, and Marion Jones of the U.S., an athlete returning to track and field after quitting the sport in favor of basketball while still a teenager, got most of the media attention.
On August 3, as it always is before sprint events, the tension was high among the runners. A first try: the starter's pistol went off, and then officials immediately called a false start, but Ms. Ottey hadn't heard the recall and did not realize she was the only one running until she was 50 meters down the track. Her concentration shattered, much of her energy spent, she dragged herself back to the start, Reuters reported, walking so slowly that two 100-meter races could have been run by the time she reached her blocks.
When the gun went off again, Ms. Jones surged into the lead, but in typical fashion, the Nizhynian sprinter's after-burners kicked in, and as they crossed the finish line Ms. Pintusevych, along with most of the stadium, was convinced she had edged her rival.
She started out on a victory lap, surrounded by photographers as the stunned American stood by the side of the track, staring at the giant television screen, waiting for a replay. Ms. Pintusevych sank to her knees on the far side of the track, weeping with joy, when the screen suddenly confirmed Ms. Jones as the new world champion who'd clocked 10.83 seconds, a personal best, and that the Ukrainian had come in second in 10.85. Sevatheda Fynes of the Bahamas was third in 11.03.
A tearful Ms. Pintusevych told reporters: "I thought I was first and I was very happy. Now I am very sad."
The Pintusevych saga - 200-meters
On August 6, it all began again, this time, in the 200-meters event. Ms. Pintusevych won her heat with a time of 22.85 the fourth fastest time posted in the day's seven heats, and also conserved her energy in the second round.
The day of reckoning, August 9, arrived and the pressure was back at peak. Ms Ottey, the pre-race favorite, was in the field attempting to take her third successive 200-meter title. Before the final the Jamaican, who trains with former Olympic champion Linford Christie said it was a miracle she could still compete at this level at her age, and would carry on as long as the miracle continued.
But Ms. Pintusevych's determination was palpable, and in trademark fashion, she surged forward in the last few paces and blew Ms. Ottey's doors off. The defending champion was also overtaken by 20-year-old Susanthika Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka. The times: the streak in blue-and-yellow, 22.32 seconds; Ms. Jayasinghe 22.39; Ms. Ottey 22.40.
The AFP called it sweet revenge. The 25-year-old had "wiped away the heartache of her 100-meter defeat by winning the 200-meter title." The 100-meters was clearly a burning issue for her. "After the 100-meters I felt exhausted, but I said to myself 'I must, I must go on'," the Ukrainian sprinter told the post-race press conference.
"I really did not believe I could win, but I just don't know what happened to Merlene," Ms. Pintusevych said. "After what happened on Sunday [August 3], when I thought I won, today is proof of my talent," she added.
Shot putter's roller coaster ride
Oleksander Bohach's odyssey held equally golden potential, but the ending was far more disappointing.
He was born on November 21, 1966, in Matusiv (a town southwest of Cherkasy in central Ukraine). While competing under the Soviet flag in 1989, Mr. Bohach was banned for two years for excessive testosterone levels after he finished third in the European Cup in Gateshead, England.
Ironically, given the outcome of this year's events, the shot-putter was promoted to a bronze medal at the 1993 world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, after a U.S. competitor, Mike Stulce, tested positive for drugs.
In 1994, he became the first athlete representing Ukraine in shot put to win a European indoor title. In May of this year, he improved his personal best to 21.47 meters.
On August 2, from the early going in the qualifying round, it was clear that the contest was between Mr. Godina and Mr. Bohach, with the American leading the pack by a comfortable margin (over a foot). Olympic champion and world record holder Randy Barnes failed to make the final after finishing 14th in the morning's eliminations.
In the medal round, Mr. Godina was ahead in a tight battle with a mark of 21.44 meters when the 30-year-old Ukrainian surprised everyone (even himself) by recording a 21.47-meter throw with his third attempt (matching May's personal best), sufficient to earn Mr. Bohach the gold and his first shot put world title. Mr. Godina had to be content with silver, while Oliver-Sven Buder of Germany took the bronze with a 21.24-meter effort.
In the post-competition press conference, as the athletes waited for the mandatory drug test results, Mr. Bohach joked with journalists. "I've passed five dope tests this year so the sixth doesn't worry me. I'm just looking forward to the free beer," he said, unaware of the cruel irony in store.
It took five days for the results to come back. On August 7, IAAF officials called a news conference to announce that the Matusiv-born world-beater would have his medal and $60,000 in prize money taken away.
Mr. Bohach pleaded his innocence. "Basically I used this supplement which is made of natural substances and does not mention that it has ephedrine in it," the 30-year-old Ukrainian told Reuters Television. "It is so absurd," Mr. Bohach said. "It is nonsense. I cannot believe it. ... Now the commission finds 'pseudo-ephedrine.' "
"I obtained the product in Kyiv from the official representative of the manufacturing company who assured me there was nothing forbidden in the ingredients. I first used it at the world [shot put] championships in Paris and when I tested I was negative," he added.
His coach, Mykola Kolodiyiv, was even more forceful. "This is a misunderstanding, and I can call it a barbarous case," Mr. Kolodiyiv told The Associated Press. "Bohach is really upset. He is in despair because he does not understand and does not know how an innocent sportsman can prove his innocence to the whole world.
"Before he (Bohach) was tested for drugs, he filled in a declaration form enumerating all types of medicine he was taking recently, including the ill-fated medicine produced by an American pharmaceutical company which had shown positive results for the drug," the coach continued.
Valerii Alexandrov, vice-president of the Ukrainian Athletic Federation, criticized athletics officials in Ukraine for not informing the team that the supplement Mr. Bohach had used contained banned drugs.
"The mistake of this athlete is that he used this substance without knowing that this pseudo-ephedrine was in it," Reuters quoted Mr. Alexandrov as saying, "No competent authorities informed us of this and there are no adequate laboratories in Ukraine to do a check on this product."
Mr. Bohach was lucky in one respect. Since the IAAF relaxed their doping rules just two days before the championships, he will receive a public warning, but will be free to continue competing in lucrative grand prix meetings after the championships.
"Following the recent decision by the IAAF congress, these athletes will be issued a public warning and disqualified from the competition," read a Reuters-quoted IAAF statement. "The results they achieved at these world championships have been canceled."
Other athlete notes: "the heavies"
Of course, Ukraine's performance was not just about the headliners. Other men and women toiled mightily to secure their country's position in the elite top-10 category of athletic nations, a delegation that took home the aforementioned two gold medals, four silver and one bronze.
In a shot-put-positive note, one can take heart that Ukraine has considerable depth in this event. Vita Pavlysh took silver in the women's competition, and veteran powerhouse Valentyna Fediushina is still on the scene, although in this meet she didn't advance past the qualifying round. On the men's side, Yuriy Bilonih came in fifth and Roman Vyrastiuk was seventh in the final.
Also in the "heavy metal" category, Andriy Shkvaruk took the silver in the hammer throw, whipping the wire-and-weight projectile 81.46 meters, with Oleksa Krykun checking in for eighth place with a 77.14-meter throw. Vadym Kolesnyk had also been in the field, but he failed to qualify for the final.
In the discus final, Vitalii Sidorov was significantly behind the field (at 60.32, a full six meters behind Lithuanian silver medalist Virgilijus Alekna's 66.70), but did just make it into the top-10. Mr. Sidorov had done better in the qualifying round, coming in second in Group A with a toss of 63.08.
"Light athletics" success
Ukraine demonstrated that it also continues to belong in the elite of "light" field events, sprinting and middle-distance running. Inga Babakova tied Russian Olga Kaliturina for a height of 1.96 meters in the high jump (behind Norway's Hanne Haugland who cleared 1.99), and both took home silver medals.
In the triple jump, there was mixed news. Yelena Govorova took bronze with an effort of 14.67 meters, behind the Czech Republic's Sarka Kasparkova (15.20) and Rodica Mateescu (15.16) of Romania, but things could have been better still.
Defending champion Inessa Kravets did not turn up for the qualifying rounds of the women's triple jump on the opening day of the world championships on August 2. Ms. Kravets is also the Olympic champion and current world record holder. Also in the women's triple jump, Olena Khlusovych managed seventh in her qualifying group before dropping out.
In the men's triple jump, valiant efforts from Volodymyr Kravchenko (16.24) and Yuriy Osypenko (16.13) did not pass the qualifying cut of 17.00 meters.
Other top-10 Ukrainian finishers at the Athens' worlds included Tetiana Tereshchuk, whose fourth-place 53.81-second run in the 400-meter hurdles was just half a second off the podium pace. In the long jump final Viktoria Vershinina came in seventh, with a leap of 6.71 meters, with Russia's Liudmila Galkina completely outclassing the field at 7.05 (silver medalist Niki Xanthou of Greece managed 6.94)
Running behind her silver-medal-winning compatriot Pintusevych, Anzhela Kravchenko was fourth in her heat of the women's 100-meters, qualifying for the semifinal with a time of 11.46, and even though she improved to 11.43 in the next, this was only good for seventh in that elimination round. Iryna Pukha was also in the running for the women's 100-meters, but came in fifth in her first round heat (time: 11.75). Ihor Strakh, pulled up lame in the 10th heat of qualifying in the men's 100-meters and could not finish.
Ukraine's 4x100-meters men's relay team qualified (39.92 seconds) for the semi-finals (better than the vaunted U.S. team, which blew their baton pass in the first round), but then false started twice and were disqualified.
In the men's 200-meters, Serhiy Osovych was fourth in his very fast heat, with a time of 20.56, lifting him to the second round. There, he came in third and lopped 0.02 seconds off his time, but it was not good enough to go further.
In the women's 800-meters, Olena Buzhenko was third in her heat (time, 2 minutes, 2.0 seconds), and Iryna Nedelenko fifth (2:03.56) in hers, but as the qualifying time was 2 minutes even, neither advanced to the final.
In the women's 1,500-meters, Natalia Ivanova was ninth in her second-round heat (4:10.39, improving on her first round time of 4:10.79), while Tetiana Bilovil came in tenth in her first round heat (time: 4:12.17).
Other members of the contingent included Irena Lenska, 400-meter hurdles (time: 56.05), Olena Antonova, women's discus (distance, 59.62 meters), Valentyna Savchuk, 10 km walk; Roman Galkin, 400-meters (time: 46.82 seconds); Oleksa Lukasevych, ninth in his qualifying group in men's long jump, just failed to qualify by three centimeters.
Final phrases
These were the first world championships at which no country won at least 10 gold medals, as top honors were spread among 25 countries. For the first time in the 14-year history of the championships, athletes from each of the six world areas - Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America - won medals.
There were no world records in Athens but Mr. Bubka's performance in winning six world gold medals over a 14-year period was as good as any world mark.
The next world championships will be held in Seville, Spain, in 1999.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 31, 1997, No. 35, Vol. LXV
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