RUSSIA will be on a revenge mission tonight when Kelly Holmes attempts to become the first British athlete for 84 years to achieve an Olympic double. With three Russians having reached the final of the women’s 1,500 metres, they will be driven not only by the prospect of medals but will aim to avenge the fate of one of their compatriots in the World Championships in Paris last year.
Holmes, at 34 in her twelfth season among the elite of middle-distance running, has never looked so magnificent. Since winning the 800 metres on Monday, she has breezed through two rounds of the metric mile and enters the final as favourite. Having seen off Maria Mutola and Jolanda Ceplak in the 800 metres, the opposition at 1,500 metres should hold few fears.
The greatest concern must be any teamwork that the Russians may employ, or the finishing capability of Tatyana Tomashova. When Holmes won the silver medal over
800 metres in Paris, she was assisted by Mutola, the Mozambican who was then her training partner and who appeared to block Natalya Khrushchelyova, from Russia, down the home straight.
Holmes is likely to adopt the tactics that have served her so well at these Games — running the stages towards the back. But she will have to watch out for Russian manoeuvres to keep her from taking up a strong attacking position over the final 200 metres.
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Tomashova won the 1,500 metres in Paris and if she has appeared less convincing than Holmes in the rounds, it is worth remembering that she hardly looked a winner in the making during the heats and semi-finals at the World Championships. Yet in the final she pulled back a six- metre deficit on Sureyya Ayhan, the dominant 1,500 metres runner for two seasons, to win the gold medal. Covering the final 200 metres in 29.7sec, Tomashova consigned Ayhan, from Turkey, to the silver medal. Ayhan has not run here after it was revealed three weeks ago that she tried to manipulate a drugs test by submitting someone else’s sample. This brings us to Olga Yegorova, another of the Russians, who has looked this season more like the athlete she was in 2001.
That was the year in which Yegorova was allowed to compete in the World Championships in Edmonton, Canada, after escaping a drugs ban on a technicality. Her participation in the 5,000 metres so incensed Paula Radcliffe that the Briton took to the stands holding a banner that read “EPO cheats out”, a reference to erythropoietin, a drug that is of particular benefit to endurance runners.
Yegorova’s form declined in the next two years, but she has returned with a vengeance this summer. She won all six of her 1,500 metres races before the Olympics, usually by employing the devastating sprint finish that was her trademark in 2001. However, here she has given the impression of an athlete struggling, qualifying through both rounds only as a fastest loser.
A slow race, though, would play into Yegorova’s hands while Natalya Yevdokimova, the third Russian, will be looking to convert modest form into a surprise result. Holmes is not ranked in the world’s top ten on times this year, but a brisk pace would suit her, given the closing speed of Yegorova and Tomashova.
Another point that may favour the Russians is that they are running fresh. None has run three 800 metres races. For Holmes, this is her sixth race of the Games and how much petrol remains in the tank is a moot point. The previous Briton to achieve an Olympic athletics double was Albert Hill, at 800 and 1,500 metres, in 1920. No British woman has achieved a double.
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Britain will be represented in both 4 x 400 metres relay finals today, although the semi-finals did not go as expected. The women, considered the better medal bet, progressed only as one of the fastest losing teams, while the men won their semi-final. The men’s 4 x 100 metres team also advanced to the final, winning their semi-final.
Colin Jackson, who retired last season, is now the joint holder of the 110 metres hurdles world record after Xiang Liu, from China, equalled the time he set in winning the world title in Stuttgart in 1993.
Steve Backley, 35, seeks a javelin gold medal today to go with his two silvers and one bronze. In 1990, Backley said that his “fantasy would be to win an Olympic gold medal on my last throw”. He was referring to his last throw of a Games, but now this is the final throw of his career.
“Even better,” Backley said. “That would be a fairytale.” Although Backley says that he has a winning throw in him, there appear to be too many opponents close to 90 metres to give him a chance. They include Jan Zelezny, from the Czech Republic, who is trying to win a fourth successive gold medal in the event.