No big surprise in this competition. I predicted that if Idowu was able to get extension on his jumps that he would win this competition. I am disappointed that the jumps were less than stellar. I wish I had the chance to “feel” the runway to see if the runway was the cause of the low level of jumping. Obviously, the wind was still swirling but none of the jumpers had wind so bad that it should have prevented good jumps if the runway was fast. Nonetheless, the competition seemed interesting even though Idowu’s jump was 20cm (about 8 inches), head and shoulders above the rest of the field.
Evora gave it a valiant try but something was missing this year and he had to settle for the silver medal. He was very consistent and his condition seemed fine, as evidence by his best jump arriving on his last jump. It remains to be seen if the Portuguese phenom can come back in two years to win another big victory. Only time will tell on this fluid jumper.
Capello from Cuba finally got his act together in the last round to take the bronze but really did not prove much for the competition. Sands of Bahamas and Girat from Cuba seemed to have off days. I wish I could have talked to these two to get their reaction to the runway and the conditions on the runway. Like so many triple jump competitions there are many factors that can change the outcome of the event. It seems like this one was influenced by the runway.
One last comment about this event, both women and men’s triple jump, I hope that the USATF will take notice of the relatively poor showing, once again, of our triple jump squads and put more resources into building the US team back to its former glory. Emphasis must be placed on coaching to the strength of our jumpers and not to the “cookie cutter” methods of the most recent philosophy on triple jump. Just because Jonathan Edwards did it does not mean our jumpers need to emphasize speed. We have to go back to analyzing the strength of the jumper (bouncer, speedster, or strongman) to determine what type of training formula is good for each athlete. We need to put focus on flexibility and technique rather than speed and brute force. We have the athletes, now we need the methods to win.