Shock: the curse of the Olympic Gold Medal struck Christine Ohuruogu (Photo: GETTY IMAGES)
So the ‘Curse of the Cover’ has finally been broken after Russian Olympic champion Olga Kaniskina won the women’s 20km race walk on Wednesday despite being pictured on the front cover of the daily programme at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu.
The previous day, newspapers and television stations had been abuzz after Russian pole-vault great Yelena Isinbayeva became the fourth athlete to bomb out of the Championships after appearing on the front cover.
First it was Australian pole-vaulter Steve Hooker, who failed to make it through the men’s pole vault qualifying round, followed by Usain Bolt, red-carded on the second day for a false start, and Dayron Robles, who was stripped off his gold on the third day for man-handling an opponent mid-race.
It is the kind of silly-season story that is so beloved by media outlets (remember Paul, the result-predicting Octopus, at the football World Cup in South Africa?) but the coincidence of under performing cover stars has a more interesting explanation.
All four of the affected athletes were Olympic champions in Beijing three years ago, which is clearly the required qualification for being given cover-picture status, and all four are part of a far
bigger trend in South Korea that would be better described as the Curse of the Olympic Gold Medal.
So far, the World Championships have been a graveyard for Olympic winners. After Hooker’s surprise departure on the opening morning, Britain’s only defending Olympic champion, Christine Ohuruogu, became the next high-profile casualty without even getting the chance to run in her 400m heat.
Since then the stream of Olympic medallists heading for the exit door has turned into a flood.
The statistics are extraordinary. Of the 17 Olympic champions from 2008 who have competed on the opening five days, just three of them have won gold in Daegu.
Step forward Kaniskina and the two ‘Valeries’ – New Zealander Valerie Vili, winner of the women’s shot put, and Russian Valery Borchin, who triumphed in the men’s 20km race walk.
The other 14 have all failed to add to their gold medal collections, some through freak circumstances (Ohuruogu, Bolt and Robles), some because of their injury histories (Hooker, Keninisa
Bekele) and others because they were simply not good enough (Isinbayeva, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Nancy Jebet Lagat, Natalyia Dobrynska).
For the record, the other fallen heroes are Maurren Higa Maggi (Brazil, long jump), LaShawn Merritt (US, 400m), Stephanie Brown Trafton (US, long jump), Primoz Kozmus (Slovenia, hammer) and Gerd Kanter (Estonia, discus).
What is happening has nothing to do with programme covers but is nothing more than a changing of the guard – proof that success in athletics is temporary and that, with just 11 months remaining until the London Olympics, the intensity of competition is cranking up.
Before the championships, UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee drew a distinction between winning a track and field gold medal and triumphing in the Star class in sailing or in archery.
The struggles of the British team so far reinforces his point that medals in athletics are fiendishly difficult to win. Of all the Olympic sports, track and field is the most global. Even Botswana has been celebrating its first ever world gold medal this week.
This is not to make excuses for Britain’s disappointments in Daegu. As recipients of £25 million of Lottery funding over the current Olympic cycle, UK Athletics are rightly expected to deliver at the highest level.
But a measure of realism is also required. If 14 out of 17 Olympic champions have found the going tough, then Britain’s athletes need to be cut a bit of slack.
And besides, the team still have plenty of medal opportunities to come, beginning with a chance of gold for hurdler Dai Greene on Thursday.
The Olympic champion, American Angelo Taylor, is also in the final line-up. And quite possibly on the programme cover, too.
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