Olympic Special: Two Women Make Sports History

Gulnara Galkina-Samitova broke her world record to win the first women’s Olympic steeplechase. © www.photorun.net

Gulnara Galkina-Samitova broke her world record to win the first women’s Olympic steeplechase. © www.photorun.net

One youngster and one veteran won women’s gold medals in groundbreaking style earlier this week. First the 30-year old Russian Gulnara Galkina-Samitova broke the 9:00 barrier in the 3,000m steeplechase. One day later, 18-year-old Pamela Jelimo of Kenya won the 800m in African and world junior record time.

Becoming the first woman to break 9:00 in the steeplechase was a major goal of Galkina-Samitova, who had tried to do so but failed at the beginning of June in Oslo. She certainly did so in Bejing, and without a pacemaker. Her time of 8:58.81 put her almost nine seconds ahead of silver medalist Eunice Jepkorir of Kenya. Along with her world record, Galkina-Samitova also made history in Beijing by becoming the winner of the inaugural running of the women’s steeplechase in the Olympics.

Galkina-Samitova ran her first steeplechase in 2003, and went on to run 9:08.33 that season. (Because the women’s steeple wasn’t on the 2004 Olympic program, she ran the 5,000m in Athens, and placed sixth.) In Osaka last year, she couldn’t cope with the warm and humid weather, and despite being the world record holder (then 9:01.59), she placed seventh. Sunday evening in Beijing was cool, and that made the record chase easier. After her race in Beijing, Galkina-Samitova explained that changing coaches was the main reason she was able to break 9:00. The new coach of Galkina-Samitova, who is married to the 400-meter runner Anton Galkin (PR of 44.83), is Gennady Suvorov, the national long-distance coach. Her previous coach was the 76-year-old Minulla Chinkin.

A few hours before the final, Galkina-Samitova received an inspirational boost. When she went for a coffee with her coach that afternoon, they met Valeriy Borchin, the Olympic 20K racewalking champion. “He gave me the flowers he received in the victory ceremony. My coach told me if I took the flowers, I would win,” said Galkina-Samitova. “I will pass them on. The flowers should bring good luck to other members of our team.”

Pamela Jelimo (behind) was in front yet again by the finish. © www.photorun.net

Pamela Jelimo (behind) was in front yet again by the finish. © www.photorun.net

Even before the Olympics Pamela Jelimo had caused a lot of sensation this season, taking the 800m by storm in her first year in the event. The Olympic final was only her 11th race over 800m in her carrer, and she has won them all.

After her friend and training partner Janeth Jepkosgei (Kenya), last year’s 800m world champion, pushed the pace on the first lap, Jelimo took over at the beginning of the second lap and won by a massive margin over Jepkosgei. Her time of 1:54.87 was her fourth world junior and third African record this year.

 

But Jelimo achieved even more in China. She is the first Kenyan woman to win a middle-distance Olympic medal. It looks like even the 25-year-old world record of the Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova, who ran 1:53.28 minutes in Munich in 1983, is within Jelimo’s grasp, especially considering how fast she ran in Beijing without pacemakers.

Jelimo was inspired by her mother to start running. Up to last year, she ran the 200m and 400m, but was far from world-class in those events. (She does, however, hold the Kenyan 200m record.) It was Jepkosgei, among others, who convinced her to try the 800m. “It was not easy to persuade me,” Jelimo says. “I had to train very hard to improve my performance.” But when she unexpectedly became African champion, defeating legendary Maria Mutola (Mozambique) in the process, Jelimo knew that she had found her distance.