London Diaries, Day 9: Anna Chicherova Takes gold in High Jump for Russia, by Larry Eder

Anna Chicherova, gold medalist, HIgh Jump, London Olympics,

photo by PhotoRun.net

Anna Chicherova won her Olympic gold medal in the high jump, a medal that she was somewhat destined for, with a series of clean, first attempt jumps until her winning height of 2.05m, which she cleared on her second attempt. Six attempts, five clearances, one gold medal.

Chicherova is superbly talented jumper, who has an elegance of style, and a technical savvy that makes her dangerous in every competition. To see how excited she was to win the gold medal and how much pressure she had endured in the competition made the event even more memorable.

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And then, there were three….

This was the name of a music album in the early eighties, for the

English glam band, Genesis. It would have been appropriate for

this high jump competition.

Tia Hellebaut, the 2008 Olympic high jump champion, was out at 2.00m.

After that, Brigitta Barrett, Svetlana Shkolina and Anna Chicherova were

still in the medal hunt.

Anna Chicherova had cleared 1.89m, 1.93m, 1.97m, 2.00m, with first

attempts.

Svetlana Shkolina had cleared 1.89m, 1.93m, 1.97m, 2.00 all on first

attempts and then took three to clear 2.03m.

Brigitta Barrett cleared 1.89m and 1.93m on first attempts. She took two

attempts to clear 2.00m, and 2.03m, her personal best.

Anna Chicherova cleared 2.05m on her first. Brigitta Barrett tried three

times at 2.05m, and did not clear. Barrett got the silver. Svetlana Shkolina

took three attempts at 2.05m as well, and did not clear. She took the bronze.

And for her near flawless jumpings, Anna Chicherova became the 2012

London Olympic gold medalist at the high jump!

The XXX Olympic Games
London (GBR) – Saturday, Aug 11, 2012
High Jump – W FINAL

————————————————————————————-

11 August 2012 – 19:00

Position	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	2850	Anna Chicherova	RUS	2.05	.
2	3268	Brigetta Barrett	USA	2.03	(PB)
3	2894	Svetlana Shkolina	RUS	2.03	(PB)
4	1642	Ruth Beitia	ESP	2.00	(=SB)
5	1145	Tia Hellebaut	BEL	1.97	(=SB)
6	3305	ChauntÃ© Lowe	USA	1.97	.
7	3337	Svetlana Radzivil	UZB	1.97	(SB)
8	3005	Emma Green Tregaro	SWE	1.93	.
9	1787	Melanie Melfort	FRA	1.93	(=SB)
10	2860	Irina Gordeeva	RUS	1.93	.
11	2437	AirinÃ© PalÅ¡ytÃ©	LTU	1.89	.
12	3082	Burcu Ayhan	TUR	1.89	.

Athlete	1.89	1.93	1.97	2.00	2.03	2.05
Anna Chicherova	O	O	O	O	O	XO
Brigetta Barrett	O	O	XO	XO	XO	XXX
Svetlana Shkolina	O	O	O	O	XXO	XXX
Ruth Beitia	O	O	XO	O	XXX
Tia Hellebaut	O	XXO	O	XXX
ChauntÃ© Lowe	O	O	XO	XXX
Svetlana Radzivil	O	XXO	XXO	XXX
Emma Green Tregaro	XO	O	XXX
Melanie Melfort	O	XO	XXX
Irina Gordeeva	O	XXO	XXX
AirinÃ© PalÅ¡ytÃ©	O	XXX
Burcu Ayhan	XXO	XXX

Author

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.

Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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