A 1-2 in the shot put highlighted World Championships action for the American team Saturday. John Godina conquered the field with his first throw -- 71-9. The only competitor who could come remotely close was his teammate Adam Nelson with a toss of 69-8¼. The expected challenge from Janus Robberts never came. The South African finished last in the final after leading the qualifying round.
Godina's story is one of rebirth. In an interview on the field after his win, he called it his best World Championships win because it was "a perfect start to the rest of my career." The champion in 1995 and 1997, he has not been able to win the Olympics and he lost the 1999 version of this meet as well. Like many great athletes, he has had to struggle to find the motivation to climb to a higher level in his event.
Now the UCLA alum appears to be more sure of himself than ever. He aims to compete in the discus final on Wednesday. While he may not have the ideal build for the event, as rivals Virgilijus Alekna and Lars Reidel do, he has hopes of upsetting the formcharts. With his renewed determination, this just might be his year.
Yegorova's return puts IAAF into tight spot
Sometimes the right thing to do, the legal thing to do, and the savvy thing to do, are three different things. The IAAF found itself faced with such a dilemma over the Olga Yegorova situation. The Russian attracted suspicion for her rapid improvement this season and it was announced that she had tested positive for EPO.
She had been banned pending a second test on her urine sample for the substance. Rival runner Gabriela Szabo turned up the heat by announcing that she would boycott the meet if Yegorova were allowed to run. That made front pages across Canada and was just the sort of negative publicity that the IAAF hoped to avoid.
In a news conference Saturday, the tale took another turn when a top IAAF official explained that the test of Yegorova was not administered according to the agreed scientific protocol. In other words, she could not be banned from the meet because her "positive" test did not conclusively prove anything.
That surely will not sit well with Szabo and others, who feel the right thing for the IAAF to do would be to bounce Yegorova. The IAAF, however, has to address the legal thing to do, which is to let her into the meet. Savvy public relations, however, may or may not help smooth the controversy.
The IAAF has promised that Yegorova will be tested for EPO in Edmonton. Given the nature of the test, it would probably turn up nothing with this kind of advance warning, whether or not the athlete is guilty. I'm anxious to see what other tactics the organization comes up with; depending on how much noise Szabo makes. The Romanian has already run in the 1500 meter heats and looks great. Her manager says she will make a decision about facing Yegorova in the 5,000 meter after the 1500 final.
So is Yegorova guilty or innocent? The public, the IAAF, and Gabriela Szabo do not know. As much as we'd like the world of sport to be a simple place with heroes and villains discernible in black and white, the truth is that it's all gray out there. We don't know the answers in this case; all we can really do is watch how the people involved handle the questions.
Jeff Hollobaugh, former managing editor of Track and Field News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached by e-mail at michtrack@aol.com.
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