SPORTSLINE (10/10/99)

SPORTSLINE

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj

WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Former minister of sport Valerii Borzov predicted, as early as 1992, that there would be a downturn in Ukraine's presence at the élite level of competition, particularly in his primary area of interest (he was an Olympic athlete in 1972 and 1976). Evidence to this effect was looming into view at this year's World Athletic Championships, held in Seville, Spain, on August 20-29.

While many individuals still maintain a standard of excellence matched by few on the globe, let alone the European continent, there are signs that Ukraine's athletic ranks are thin and budgets are strained to the limit.

First off, the medal count has slipped: Ukraine bagged one gold, one silver and two bronze for a total of four medals and a tie for 15th place with Austria. Last year Ukraine took home seven medals (two gold, four silver and one bronze) and was sixth, ahead of Jamaica, which suffered an even worse reversal of fortune by falling to 24th this year.

Two huge absences at this competition were those of Viktoria Pavlysh, who once dominated (when not contending) competition for the women's shot put title, and the obvious chasm left by the retirement of Sergey Bubka, the peerless pole-vaulter.

Particularly disturbing was the fact that Ukraine could field no world-class entries on the men's side of Mr. Bubka's event, despite the Luhansk-native's mentorship of various athletes (not only in his own country) and his willingness to teach.

Babakova's breezy gold

Tops among Ukraine's entries was Inga Babakova, who is the new world champion in the women's high jump. On the last day of competition, she cleared a height of 1.99 meters on her first attempt. Two Russians also recorded the mark, but Yelena Yelesina (silver) needed two tries to do so, while Svetlana Lapina needed three, thus determining their positions on the podium.

Ms. Babakova breezed through the meet, making virtually every height she tried at the first go, from 1.80 to 1.92 in qualifying (knocking the bar off at 1.94 in an "academic" try in the preliminary round), and then from 1.85 to 1.99 in the final.

The lithe competitor also made three unsuccessful attempts at 2.01 in the final, but suffered no ill consequences as her competitors also failed.

Balakhonova's dramatic silver

Ukraine's silver medal was secured in dramatic fashion by Anzhela Balakhonova on the first day of competition (August 21) in the women's pole vault, as she pushed Stacy Dragila of the U.S. to a new world record height of 4.60 meters.

Ms. Balakhonova set a European record of 4.55 meters on her first attempt. Ms. Dragila failed on her first try at that mark, then made it. The Ukrainian made two unsuccessful tries at 4.60, then passed to 4.65, putting psychological pressure on her opponent. Ms. Dragila, failed attempt No. 1 at 4.60, but then made it, sending the proverbial ball into Ms. Balakhonova's court.

The Ukrainian vaulter missed her only allowable try at 4.65, ceding the gold to Ms. Dragila, who nevertheless gamely made three stabs at the lofty barrier.

Bronze hammer and shot

On August 22, Vladyslav Piskunov assumed the third spot on the world podium in the men's hammer throw by whipping the device 79.03 meters, finishing behind the domination of Germany's Karsten Kobs (80.24 meters for gold) and Zsolt Németh of Hungary (79.05).

Being beaten by two centimeters was no doubt galling, particularly since Mr. Piskunov had bested the Hungarian by over 1.5 meters in the final's fifth throw, only to fall below his own consistent standard of 77-plus distances he'd managed all day in his sixth.

The day before, Oleksander Bohach gained a measure of redemption after the fiasco of having been stripped of a gold medal in last year's world championships. The burly Ukrainian took bronze in the men's shot put with a distance of 21.26, behind the U.S.A.'s C.J. Hunter (21.79 for gold) and last year's bronze medal winner Oliver-Sven Buder of Germany (21.42).

Mr. Bohach also probably derived satisfaction from the fact that his nemesis, defending champion John Godina of the U.S. (who has often publicly berated the Ukrainian's training practices), struggled vainly in the final, managing only a single, seventh-place, distance and fouled out five times.

Mr. Bohach had played possum in the qualifying round, checking in with a modest 20.12-meter effort to place fourth in Group B, while Mr. Godina was pounding his chest over a 20.69-meter Group A-topping performance.

Valiant Pintusevych

Zhanna Tarnopolska-Pintusevych suffered more heartbreak at this year's world championship. In 1998, she was the world 200-meter champion and set blistering times in 100 meters, only to be eclipsed by the U.S.-media-adored basketball convert (and world-record-demolisher) Marion Jones.

In 1999 Ms. Pintusevych's times have slipped a fraction, enough to nudge her off the podium. But she put in a valiant effort. In the end, that is, in the 100-meter women's final on August 22, she finished 0.09 seconds off the podium, with a time of 10.95. Ms. Jones blew past the field with a 10.70.

In qualifying, Ms. Pintusevych won her heat with a moderate-paced 11.20 (0.02 faster than Ms. Jones), then finished third, with a time of 10.98, behind the champion U.S. sprinter's 10.83 and Gail Devers' (also U.S.) 10.94 in the semi-final.

At last year's meet in Athens, the bitter sting of her 100-meter defeat drove the Ukrainian speedster through her wall of exhaustion and to the summit of achievement in the 200-meter event. This time around, the physical demands proved too much.

She qualified for the quarter-finals by turning in a time of 23.19 on the morning of August 24, finishing fifth in her heat, but did not start in the "run-off" held later that evening.

She had either sustained an injury or was too disheartened to take part in the women's 4 x 100-meter relay. Without their anchor, the tandem of Iryna Pukha, Anzhela Kravchenko, Oksana Guskova and Anzhelika Shevchuk turned in a creditable time of 43.80, finishing third in their heat, but it was not enough to qualify the team (by 0.08 seconds) for further competition.

Oddly, none of these women were entered (or pre-qualified) for the individual 100 meters, even though Ms. Pukha and Ms. Kravchenko acquitted themselves well in 1998 and into 1999.

Good heavy efforts

The "heavy metal" events continue to be the one area where Ukraine has depth. Yurii Bilonih was fifth in the men's shot put (20.60 meters) and Roman Virastiuk just missed qualifying for the final by 10 centimeters with a distance of 19.73.

In the hammer throw, Andriy Shkvaruk (last year's silver medalist, whose performance in 1998 would have easily won the gold this year), finished 15 centimeters short of the podium, providing a Ukrainian sandwich for the Hungarian Tibor Gécsek who threw the hammer 78.95 meters as the erstwhile runner-up fouled out on his last two attempts.

Valentyna Fediushina, formerly part of the Ukrainian contingent, was in the medal hunt in the women's shot put, qualifying with a heave of 18.28 meters. However, her top-10 performance in the final (she finished seventh, albeit dropping off the pace with a distance of 18.17 meters) goes on record as an achievement for Team Austria. It was also far behind the winning toss by Germany's Astrid Kumbernuss (19.85 meters).

Quadruple sevens

Ukraine's presence in the top-10 of various events was reflected in a "quadruple seven" configuration in women's events.

Viktoria Stiopina recorded a personal best height of 1.96 meters to place seventh in the women's high jump in a supporting role to her golden compatriot, making it over the bar on her first attempt after struggling to clear 1.93. She'd qualified easily at 1.92, then muffed a chance at 1.94 in the preliminary round. Iryna Mykhalchenko could be an up-and-comer, as she initially performed well in qualifying, clearing heights of 1.80, 1.85 and 1.89 on her first attempts, but then stumbled at 1.92.

On August 23, Olena Antonova was seventh in the discus throw, sending her disk aloft for 63.61 meters (Franka Dietzsch of Germany won with 68.14), and recorded a toss of 63.58, good enough for eighth.

In the triple jump final, on August 24, Olena Hovorova finished seventh with a third-try distance of 14.47 meters (Paraskevi Tsiamita of Greece took gold, leaping 14.88), but she could not improve, first falling back to a 13.94 in her fourth attempt, then fouling, then managing a 14.03 (which still would have been good enough for 10th).

Tetiana Tereshchuk-Antipova came in fourth in the 400-meter hurdles competition last year, but on August 25, she dipped slightly to seventh, covering the track in 54.23 seconds (Cuba's Daimi Pernia won with a time of 52.89). In this year's final, her reaction time was very slow (0.273). In the semi-final, Ms. Antipova finished third in her heat (time 54.55) after a much better reaction of 0.182.

Also recording a seventh, albeit not in the world finals, was Olena Martson-Buzhenko, who finished in that spot of her semi-final heat of the women's 800 meters in a time of 2:02.01.

Iryna Nedilenko-Lishchynska also ran in the 800 meters, but didn't get past the qualifying heat (ironically outpacing her compatriot's semi-final performance), finishing fifth in a time of 2:01.53.

Serhii Osovych continued to be a spurned bridesmaid in the men's 200-meter race, and registered a world-class reaction time of 0.153 in the quarter-final, but finished last in his heat with a time of 20.93 seconds. He'd qualified for the run-offs by covering the distance in 20.91 seconds and recording a blistering reaction time of 0.136.

The disappointments

The biggest disappointment of this championship was the showing of former world champion and former world record holder in the triple jump Inessa Kravets. Ms. Kravets was 13th in her qualifying group, and her distance of 13.49 was a full meter off the distance required to advance.

Vadym Kolesnyk, a former World University Games hero, continued to struggle in the hammer throw, ending up 18th (second last) in his qualifying group, with a 68.14-meter effort, although his other distance, 67.96, also would have kept him out of last place.

Other notes

Roman Schurenko's 7.89-meter distance ranked 10th in Group A in the men's long jump preliminaries, just failing to make the cut-off by a centimeter. In Group B, Oleksa Lukasevych finished with a higher rank (eighth) but with a shorter leap (7.77 meters).

Olena Shekhovtsova placed 11th in her qualifying group, registering a long jump of 6.39 meters (6.62 was the cutoff), while Viktoria Vershinina slipped off her pace to end up 12th in her group, with a slightly better performance of 6.44 meters, but well off her usual (or past) distance.

Dmytry Kolpakov's 15.64-meter effort in the men's triple jump (he fouled out twice subsequently) placed him 18th in his group, about a meter short of qualifying.

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