Track Beauty of the Week: Olha Saladukha Ольга Саладуха

Olha Saladukha Ольга Саладуха is this week's Track Beauty!

Saladukha is one of the world's best triple jumpers. her first high caliber competition in the triple jump came in 1999, during the World Youth Championships, where Olha finished in 9th place with a 12.76m best mark. [1] She fared much better in the World Juniors three years later, improving four places to 5th in the final. 

Saladukha at the 2010 Barcelona European Championships. (Photo from Erik van Leeuwen)

The Ukrainian almost barged into the podium during her debut in the European Championships in Goteborg back in 2006, but her best leap of 14.38m fell behind the top three. Despite finals appearances in the 2007 World Championships, 2008 World Indoor Championships and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Olha seemed unable to nail a spot on the coveted podium - until the past two years.

As Olha matured as an athlete, her performance in major events became more impressive. She finally won her first senior title at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona, thanks a classy 14.81m leap in the final, the best mark by a European athlete that year. [2] Saladukha came tatntalizingly close to the 15 meter barrier at the 2012 European Championships (14.99m) and the 2011 World Championships (14.94m), where she again topped the rest of the field.

Coming into the London Olympic Games, the reigning World and European Champion was the favorite to win gold. However, an in-form Olga Rypakova Ольга Рыпакова and an injury-free Caterine Ibarguen thwarted Olha's hopes for an Olympic gold. Saladukha's 14.79m was 0.20m short of her world-leading mark of 14.99m - good enough for a bronze medal.[3]

References

1. "Olha Saladukha." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olha_Saladuha. Retrieved 11-30-2012.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.

Track Beauty of the Week: Jenny Elbe

Jenny Elbe is this week's Track Beauty!

Photo from Frank/Wikimedia Commons

The 22-year is an up and coming German triple jumper. Although she missed the "B" standard by four centimeters, Elbe had a fruitful 2012 season. The Technical University of Dresden student made her first major senior team in the European Championships in Helsinki. Elbe registered a best mark of 13.98m, missing out on a finals appearance by three places. 

She has a personal best of 14.06m outdoors and 14.02m indoors which she both set this season. These are her first ever forays into fourteen-meter jumps. 

Jenny has won numerous German national titles in age-group competition. As an 18-year old, she finished in 10th place at the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, notching 13.01m in the final. Elbe performed much better at the 2009 European Junior Championships in Novi Sad. Her 13.55m effort propelled the German to third place behind Liane Pintsaar (13.89m) of Estonia and Cristina Sandu (13.61m) of Romania.

Elbe's improvement has been gradual the past few years. Expect the talented German to be a legitimate contender in the near future.

Sources:

All-Athletics Profile

IAAF Biography

Wikipedia Biography

Additional Links:

Jenny's Official Website
Jenny's Facebook Page

Track Beauty of the Week: Yargelis Savigne

Yargelis Savigne is this week's Track Beauty!

Savigne competing at the 2010 Memorial Van Damme. (Photo from Erik van Leeuwen)

The Cuban has been a fixture of elite-level women's triple jumping for the past decade. To say that Savigne's achievements are impressive is an understatement. With three World Championships medals to her name, two of these back-to-back golds, Savigne is undoubtedly one of the big guns in the contemporary athletics circuit.

The 27-year old has a personal best of 15.28m from the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, the sixth-best triple jump outdoors. 

An Olympic medal is the only thing missing from the Cuban's display cabinet. The 2008 Beijing Olympics could have been her time for Olympic glory, having won the World title in stellar fashion a year earlier. Six women went beyond the 15 meter mark in the final. Savigne finished in a distant fifth place with a best mark of 15.05m. Her performance seemed to have dipped since then, as she failed to barge into the top three of the subsequent major internationals. She has not flown beyond 15 meters for the past two years, although she came tantalizingly close in 2011 (14.99m SB)..

Nevertheless, Savigne has been consistent in reaching the finals. In light of her considerable experience - and an obvious desire for an Olympic title - expect the Cuban to stage a comeback of Felix Sanchez proportions in the coming years.

Sources:

Wikipedia

IAAF

EC2012 Triple Jump: Olha Saladukha (Olha Saladuha Ольга Саладуха) takes gold

I love watching the triple jump because of its highly technical nature. The way the athletes hop, skip, and step to amazing distances is a graceful exercise that evokes wonder for this athletics aficionado. 

However, the event has not been given the same attention as the more popular disciplines like the men's 100m dash. I got thoroughly pissed off while watching the Adidas Grand Prix, a Diamond League meeting, last month. The directors of the telecast opted to air round-after-round of a pedestrian long jump competition over the women's triple jump competition!

Thankfully, the same mistakes were not repeated during Eurosport's broadcast of the 2012 European Championships in Helsinki. Ukrainian Olga Saladukha (Olga Saladuha Ольга Саладуха) went tantalizingly close to the 15 meter barrier, as she leaped to 14.99m to outclass the rest of the field. Patricia Momona (14.52m) and Yana Borodina (14.56m) came in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Simona La Mantia (14.52m), Dana Velďáková (14.24m), and, Niki Paneta Νίκη Πανέτα (14.23m) comprised the subsequent places.

The 2011 European U23 Champion, Voula Papachristou (Paraskevi Papachristou Παρασκευή Παπαχρήστου) finished in a disappointing 11th place (13.89m).

Read: "London Olympics Preview - The Triple Jump"

I am particularly excited about the upcoming slug fest in the women's triple jump in London. An in-form Saladukha will be hard to beat. But with the likes of 2010 World Indoor Champion Olga Rypakova Ольга Рыпакова, two-time World Champion Yargelis Savigne, the South American Champion Caterine Ibargüen, and the inspired hometown bet Yamilé Aldama in the fore, the competition has the makings of classic.

Track Beauty of the Week: Olga Rypakova Ольга Сергеевна Рыпакова

Olga Rypakova Ольга Сергеевна Рыпакова is this week's Track Beauty!

The Kazakh triple jumper is one of the best in her event. Rypakova has jumped 15.25m outdoors and 15.14m indoors, both Asian records. She also has a world-class personal best in the long jump at 6.85m. Olga is the 7th best triple jumper all-time. 

Photo from Erik van Leeuwen

Aside from the triple jump, the Kazakh has had respectable performances in the long jump and the heptathlon. In fact, she started out as a long jumper, making her international debut at the 2000 World Junior Championships in Chile. As a youth heptathlete, Rypakova missed the podium at the World Youth Championships in Debrecen back in 2001.A year later at the World Junior Championships in Kingston, the then 18-year old Rypakova snared a silver medal in the heptathlon.

Learn more about Rypakova

The Kazakh had won Asian Games titles in the triple jump and heptathlon and an Asian Games silver and bronze in the long jump, demonstrating her dominance in continental competition.

She came into prominence at the 2010 World Indoor Championships in Doha, outclassing Cuba's Yargelis Savigne in the final. Rypakova's two best jumps of 15.14m and 14.93m were enough to put the Cuban out of contention. With her victory in Doha, Rypakova climbed up to third place in the World indoor all-time list.

Read: "London Olympics Preview - The Triple Jump"

Since her breakout 2010 season, Olga has yet to go beyond 15 meters. In the runup to the London Olympics, Olga (14.73m SB) is trailing world leader Olha Saladukha Ольга Саладуха (14.99m SB), Cathrine Ibarguen (14.95A SB), and Kseniya Dziatsuk (14.76m SB) in terms of season's bests. Nevertheless, her strong showing at the Daegu World Championships (2nd place) and the Istanbul World Indoor Championships (2nd) puts her in strong contention for Olympic gold.

Additional Link:
Focus on Athletes - Olga Rypakova

Sources:

Olga's IAAF profile

Wikipedia

Expelled

London-bound Triple Jumper Voula Papachristou (Paraskevi Papachristou Παρασκευή Παπαχρήστου) has been expelled from the Greek Olympic Team because of a racist tweet.

The following was translated using Google:

 She also retweeted a post by a right-wing Greek politician.

Papachristou has apologized publicly, but the Greek authorities seem steadfast with their decision:

“I would like to apologize to all my friends and fellow athletes, who I may have insulted or shamed, the National Team, as well as the people and companies who support my athletic career. Finally, I would like to apologize to my coach and my family.”

Things do get lost in transation. If you can read Greek, read the original tweet below: