“That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind” but tiny, teeny steps for Olga Kaniskina, the Russian race walker. It was the hat trick moment for her, last Wednesday at the curse-filled South Korean City, Daegu. Criticisms, superstitions, pressure, and the urge to make the hat trick hit hard at Olga, but like the story of how the deaf frog climbed the summit of a stony hill, when the entire frog clan was booing and jeering about the path and the propensity to lose. As the frog was deaf, it had nothing to think about but the goal, had it heard the croaks of its friends, certainly failure would have knocked its door. The curse-factor made the Koreans and the world fans more curious, but it is still a curious question of how she missed to know this. At the Athlete Village the four day events formed a curse, the curse that shall not make the Champions any longer a Champion.
Olympic champion Olga Kaniskina – Steps to Stardom
Day 1: The inception was made by Steve Hooker, Australia’s greatest pole vault champion. Hooker could no longer hook to the game; he made an exit without completing the jump. On the ‘Day 0’ he was featured on the cover of the official program, and on ‘Day 1’ cover page, it was the fastest man, Usain Bolt.
Day 2: Bolt was disqualified, the title was won by another fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake, but the fastest moving soul went back to the barracks, making a shameful egress. 24 hours for the next curse to happen, who was on the cover on the second day – Dayron Robles.
Day 3: It was the Chinese – Cuban controversy. Cuban athlete Dayron bumped into the track (110m hurdles) of Chinese ace Liu Xiang. It costs him Gold for this, also a re-run was called for but did not happen, many felt that had Dayron not impeded, Liu would have clinched the gold!
The climax of the curse – Day 4 was not a so-good-day for pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayeva, as she was on the cover the previous night.
Day 4: There could be only 3 types of performance, extraordinary, mediocre, and miserable. The king of any sport can never land in the miserable radar, but the queen Yelena did. She exited after having given the most miserable performance in her career!
The talks sustained and even got amplified as the cover featured Olga on Day 4 evening. Kaniskina ended the black-magic, the superstitious hoodoo by clinching her third World Championship in a row. The drama ended with Gold around her neck after 20 kilometers of perspiration and record breaking steps.
Tags: Daegu, Gold, Olga Kaniskina, Race, Russia, Russian, Usain Bolt, Walk Title, World Championship
