Yulia Nestsiarenka celebrates the Gold in Athens 2004 – from:surtoolimpico.pom.br
Article by Giovanni Manenti
In the Individual Sports, it is not uncommon for athletes to obtain their almost only best result of the entire competitive activity on the occasion everyone has dreamed ofor at an Olympics or a World Cup, but what happened to the protagonist of our history today has something incredible…
Born on 15 June 1979 in Brest, a city of over 300 thousand inhabitants in Belarus and located on the border with Poland, Yulia Bartsevich as her first name, but known in the international athletics scene as Nestsiarenka with her married surname, lives her “Day of Days” during the 2004 Athens Games.
Registered for Dynamo Brest, Bartsevich stands out, not yet 19, at the Student Championships in Minskwhen he won both the 100 and 200 meters with respective times of 12″35 and 24″96, while at the absolute national championships at the beginning of August 2000 which took place in his hometown he did not go beyond third place in the m final .100 despite improving in 11”87…
Registered with At the Under23 European Championships which took place in mid-July 2001 in Amsterdam, Bartsevich reached the 100 m final, finishing no better than sixth in 11″80 – after placing second at the National Championships in 11”54 – in the race won by the German Sina Schielke in 11”52 and then vice versa, take silver with the 4×100 relaywith the Belarusians preceded (44″31 to 44″64) by the British quartet.
The following year, 23-year-old Yulia accomplished an undoubted “breakthrough“, is winning his first national title and achieving, on that occasion, a significant chronometric improvement by crossing the finish line in 11″29, even though this does not allow her to qualify for the Final Continental Review of Munich early August 2002…
After having, in fact, positioned itself second in the heat behind the Spaniard of Nigerian origin Glory Alozie despite both being credited with the same time of 11″42having run more or less on the same level (11”44) in the semi-final did not it was enough for the then Bartsevich to hit the final act, which eluded her by just 0.02 centsvice versa achieved with the 4×100 relay, although the Belarusian quartet concluded the Final in eighth and last place in 44”34.
In order to aspire to prestigious placings, in the women’s field it is necessary to get below the “barrier of 11″ clear” (a bit like, among males, under 10” net …), a feat at the moment not within the reach of the now Nestsiarenka, which in 2003 recorded the best seasonal result of 11″45 on the individual testeven though the 4×100 relay still qualifying for the World Championships Final in Paris Saint-Denis finishing seventh (only due to Jamaica’s disqualification…) despite a significant chronometric improvement of 43″47, just 0″02 cents from the Belgian quartet…
With the 107th seasonal time of 2003 – which could have been the 53rd if it had replicated the 11″29 of the previous year – you will therefore understand how much It might have been difficult to predict even 25-year-old Yulia’s qualification for the Olympic Final at the 2004 Athens Gamesdespite having started the season convincingly, i.e reaching the podium in 7″12 on the 60 m at the Indoor World Championships in Budapest, in the race won (7″08 to 7″12) by the American Gail Devers over the Belgian Kim Gevaertthe latter silver in both the 100 and 200 meters at the 2002 European Championships.
Let’s open at this point a parenthesis on the state of the US sprintwhose star of the period was the “sadly famous” Marion Jones – winner of 3 golds and two bronzes in Sydney 2000 – and who, still active at the time, had missed the 2003 season to give birth to a son and who at the Trials in mid-July in Sacramento she had only qualified for the Long Jump …
Likewise, the World Champion of Paris 2003, namely Torri Edwards, had subsequently encountered a positive anti-doping test, and was therefore suspended from activity, so that in order to purchase the ticket for Athens they had been LaTasha Colander, preceded (10″97 to 11″10) by not yet 21 year old Lauryn Williams and “the eternal” Devers, fourth Olympic participation.
In contrast, Jamaica – after the glorious era of Merlene Ottey, Grace Jackson and Juliet Cuthbert, despite never having won an Olympic Gold – presents a rejuvenated trio, consisting of 20-year-old Sherone Simpson, 22-year-old Veronica Campbell and 23-year-old Aleen Baileyall with excellent prospects, but not yet at the peak of their respective careers…
Of course, what has been described above serves to outline the picture of the 25-year-old Belarusian’s opponents when she appears on the morning of August 20, 2004 on the track ofOlympic Stadium” of the Hellenic Capital for the batteries of the 100 m floors, but certainly not to justify his possible aspiration to the podium, even though he had already run the distance in 11″02 on 23 June and 11″06 at the beginning of July.
In any case, when the starter fires all the speeches and predictions fall on deaf ears, only the track counts and certainly the Nestsiarenka impressed right from the start, being the only one to dip below 11”0 net – moreover for the first time in his career – winning the second series in 10″94 (equal to the Belarusian record…), and then replying in the afternoon by stopping the clocks at 10″99 …
Wrong dosage of energy or awareness of one’s physical condition is the doubt that professionals ask themselves while awaiting the outcome of the tests. semi-finals which will be staged at 8.20pm on August 21st, with the Belarusian included in the first series together with Campbell, Devers and the Frenchwoman Christine ArronWorld Champion the year before in Paris with the 4×100 relay…
A test that is certainly more significant than ever Nestsiarenka solves easily in her favor, getting the better of Campbell in the photo finish (10″92 to 10″93) – thus improving her fresh national record – with the Bulgarian Ivet Lalova also reaching the Final – who on 19 June in Plovdiv had run in 10″77, her “Personal Best” in career – and the Bahamian Debbie Ferguson, while Arron and Devers are eliminated…
The US response is not long in coming, given that the second series is won by the tiny (1.60m for 58kg.) Williams, preceding (11″01 to 11″03) Simpsonwith the list of finalists completed by Bailey and Colander, but with times that don’t give them great chances in view of the final act.
Two diametrically opposed builds, the young American is compact and explosive and the Belarusian is much more slender (176m and 62kg), while Campbell (1.68m and 58kg) represents “a middle” between the two rivalswith the lane draw predicting the Jamaican in third, with Williams on her right and Nestsiarenka in sixth, when the eight finalists take to the starting blocks at 10.55pm…
The winning arrival of the Nestsiarenka – from:pinterest.it
As expected, the 21-year-old from Pennsylvania comes out of the blocks best, followed by Campbell, while Nestsiarenka puts her long levers to work in the second half of the racewith a progression that leads to alongside her two opponents and then overtaking them, finishing for the fourth time in the space of two days under 11″ net, stopping the clock at 10″93 which are worth the “Olympic Glory”, while Campbell fails to recover (10”96 to 10”97) on Williams, who thus wins silver.
Surely the four times – 10”94, 10”99, 10”92 and 10”93 – set on the Athenian track largely legitimize the Belarusian’s successespecially since even eight years earlier in Atlanta Devers had won with 10″94 (not counting Jones’ 10″76 in Sydney which was later cancelled…), even if in subsequent editions she went well below this limit …
Maybe, what What is more strange is the fact that, throughout her career, Nestsiarenka – apart from having collected two bronze medals with the 4×100 relay at the 2005 Helsinki World Championships and the 2006 Gothenburg European Championships – not only has no longer stood on the podium of an individual race, but has not even run the distance in the fateful “minus 11” net”.
The important thing, and we believe that she can only be the first to agree, is that she succeeded.”in the right place at the right time…”, che ne dite … !?
2024-05-07 16:48:25
#YULIA #NESTSIARENKAS #FLASH #GLORY #ATHENS #GAMES #SportHistoria
