Coe, Thompson, Whitbread in athletics triumph

Press, 30 August 1986, Page 14

Coe, Thompson, Whitbread in athletics triumph

By

PAUL RADFORD

NZPA-Reuter Stuttgart

Sebastian Coe won a major 800 metres title at last, Daley Thompson retained his decathlon crown and Fatima Whitbread smashed the women’s javelin world record on a British day of triumph at the European athletics championships yesterday. There was also glory for two other great athletes as the West German, Harald Schmid, won a record fifth gold medal, and Marita Koch,- of East Germany, won her third title in a row in world class style. But it was Britain’s day from the start with Whitbread shattering the javelin record by more than two metres with a 77.44 m throw on her first attempt during the early morning qualifiers.

The events had started only three minutes before and the stadium was virtually deserted as Whitbread, who seeks her elusive first gold medal in today’s final, broke the first world record of these championships. Coe’s triumph was a poignant affair for a man often acclaimed as the

best ever over two laps but without a major title over the distance to offer proof of it. Though clearly no longer at the peak of his career, he ran with his old flowing grace to beat the spirited Scot, Tom McKean, and the pre-race favourite, Steve Cram. The three finished in that order to make it a British sweep of the medals for the first time.

Coe, aged 29, who has twice won Olympic golds over 1500 metres, acknowledged afterwards that the victory was particularly sweet, coming in his specialist event. “I’ve tried a long, long time for a recognised 800 metres title,” he said. “Now I get to the close of my career with one. Obviously I’m delighted.” The European gold ended a remarkable series of near misses which have seen him win two successive Olympic silver medals in the 800 metres and a silver and bronze at the previous two European championships. Coe clocked one minute 44.50 seconds, McKean was second in 1:44.61, and Cram 1:44.88. Thompson, who has

won every conceivable decathlon honour in the last eight years, had to dig deep into his reserves yesterday to hang on to his European title.

His eternal West German rivals, Juergen Hingsen and Siegfried Wentz, ran him uncomfortably close, Hingsen actually daring to take over the lead after the discus — the seventh of the 10 disciplines. But Thompson, stung by the challenge to his supremacy, immediately equalled his personal best of 5.10 m in the pole vault to surge back in front and capped his gritty performance by finishing with 8811 points, just 36 outside his own world record and 81 clear of Hingsen. Schmid, aged 28, urged on by a wildly cheering home crowd, just held on from the challenge of Alexander Vassiliev, of the Soviet Union, to win his third successive 400 metres hurdles title and his fifth European gold medal, an all-time record for a male athlete. Koch, aged 29, also won a third successive gold in the 400 metres and her fifth European title to tie the record held bv Fannv

Blankers-Koen, of the Netherlands, and Irina Szewinska, of Poland. In spite of the heavy rain, she showed why many rate her the best female athlete ever, storming away from the rest of the field as if they were not even there to win in 48.22 seconds. It was the fifth fastest time in history and beat the previous best, also set by Koch, by more than a second.

Bulgaria’s Stefka Kostadinova picked up the women’s high jump title with a two-metre clearance but there was a surprise in the men’s shot when Werner Guenthoer, of Switzerland, beat the powerful East Germans, Ulf Timmermann and Udo Beyer (twice European champion).

In the other events decided yesterday Diana Sachse, of East Germany, won the women’s discus and two Soviet runners picked up gold medals. Nadeshda Olisarenko won the 800 metres and Olga Bondarenko beat the Olympic champion Maricica Puica, of Romania, to land the 3000 metres.