The Last Day We Almost Topped Two Meters

Inha Babakova from Mykolayiv became the world champion in the women's high jump. She traversed a long road to this success, winning medals in three successive world championships. Now she has at last transformed her bronze and silver into gold. Her victory seemed to surprise no one. Inha was doing quite confidently in the world Grand Prix tournament and was considered the favorite. Still, nobody is safe from surprises, but the Ukrainian jumper was easily clearing one height after another. And even though the result, 199 cm., does not threaten the world record 10 cm. higher, it was enough for the top spot. I wish the competition had not been held on days other than the first and last ones. On these days that the Ukrainian team won three medals out of four. Our team's harvest was one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals, which placed it sixteenth in the overall classification. The championship was topped by US athletes who won 11 gold medals. Two of them actually stole the show: Maurice Green who became a three-time champion (in the 100 and 200 m. race and the 4 x 100 m. relay), and Michael Johnson, the winner in the 4 x 400 m. relay and the 400 m. race where he broke a world record that had stood for quite some time, reports Petro MARUSENKO, The Day .