 |
| An emotional Antoinette Antoinette Nana Djimou Ida after winning the women's pentathlon gold on Friday. |
Few believed she could do it. Eighty-three points adrift of Austra Skujyte and with an inferior 800m time, Antoinette Nana Djimou Ida seemed destined to finish second in the pentathlon yesterday.
After taking bronze in 2009, silver would have been a step up, of sorts, but not quite the triumphant home victory the 25-year-old multi-eventer had dreamed of handing the host nation on the opening day of the Paris-Bercy European Indoor Championships.
Despite winning the hurdles and long jump, and setting a personal best in the shot put, Nana Djimou still needed to run more than seven seconds quicker than the powerful Lithuanian to overtake her at the top of the leaderboard. It just seemed too much to ask; after all, Skujyte’s PB was two seconds quicker than her best time.
But this former Cameroon athlete had other ideas. “I told myself to be inspired by the spectators and from my motivation,” she said. “I knew I could go and get the title.”
Perhaps she had something else in mind too. Back in 2004, less than a year after becoming a French citizen, the then 19-year-old had been on course for a medal at her first major championships, the world juniors in Grosseto, when she fell in the 800m and ended up fourth overall.
It was a tough experience, heartbreaking. Not surprisingly, the 800m is an event she hates. Most pantathletes do. But Nana Djimou wasn’t going to let it beat her this time so she set her sights on the backs of the leading trio of Karolina Tyminska, Remona Fransen and Marina Goncharova and pushed as hard as she could.
As the four laps unfolded it was clear Skujyte was in trouble. Step by step Nana Djimou drew strength from the crowd’s roars while Skujyte strained to stay in touch. As the last circuit unwound Skujyte’s power waned and her will evaporated.
She crossed the line sixth in a weary 2:26.54, 7.55s adrift. The gold belonged to France – albeit by just 17 points, equal to the smallest winning margin in these championships’ history.
“The 800m I do not like,” said Nana Djimou. “The 800m is just not my best race. I just had to run. So, I ran.”
In fact, her time added another 837 points to her total to make her winning score 4723, the best in the world this year and, more significantly, better than Marie Collinvillé’s French record from 2003. She is the first French woman to win a European indoor title since Muriel Hurtis and Linda Ferga in 2002.
“I don't know what to say, I don't believe it,” she said as she held her flag above her head and stared up at the roof of the Palais Omnisports. “It's fantastic. I dreamt about hearing the national anthem. I’m on a cloud.
“I have to say thank you to my coach, Sebastien Levicq, because I hesitated a lot before doing the indoor season. And I didn't get so much training. I haven't performed so well in all the events today, but I succeeded.
“I dedicate this title to my coach because he believed in it when I didn’t.”
Levicq returned the compliment, saying: “It would be necessary to find a stronger word than any in the dictionary. She really doesn’t like sufering with this level of effort.”
But Nana Djimou has suffered enough over the last nine months. While the rest of the French team were enjoying their rennassiance at the European championships in Barcelona last summer, she was forced to drop out of the heptathlon with a foot injury which was still affecting her training last autumn.
“I was extremely disappointed in Barcelona but I got my revenge in Bercy,” she said. “After three years I’ve noticed a change in the French team. The spirit is different. Everyone wants to win medals.”
Now that she’s caught the spirit, Nana Djimou is already, inevitably, being likened to that other French multi-eventer, Eunice Barber, the 1999 world heptathlon champion and twice a world silver medallist. It’s not a comparison she objects to.
“That began when I was very young and it’s not going to change with this title,” she said. “I don’t mind, she gives me advice, so I profit from the advice of a great.”
Ironically, on what Nana Djimou called “a day of highs and lows”, she was least happy with the two events she won in the Palais Omnisports.
“After the hurdles I wasn’t very satisfied,” she said, despite equalling her PB of 8.11. “I hoped to do better.
“And I was also a bit disappointed after the long jump,” she added after leaping 6.34, just 10cm short of her best.
But she was pleased to add 51cm to her shot PB with 14.81, a necessary throw given Skujyte’s huge advantage in that event. The 31-year-old’s 17.53 was the longest ever in a European indoor pentathlon competition, but then, she has spent the last two years as a shot put specialist.
“Of course, it is a disappointment to lose gold in the last event,” said the 2004 Olympic heptathlon silver medallist after seeing the title snatched from her grasp. “But this is sport and why it is so beautiful.
“This is my comeback after two years of injuries and other competitions. I missed this event a lot and last July I finally decided to prepare for it again. I still have some events to improve, and I hope I can improve my running by the summer.”
As for Nana Djimou she also has some work to do before she can contemplate a medal outdoors or at world level – her total yesterday was more than 200 less than Jessica Ennis scored to win the world indoor title 12 months ago.
For some, the Briton’s absence, due to an ankle injury, may take the shine off Nana Djimou’s victory. But Levicq believes there’s plenty more to come from his pupil. “She hasn’t shown what she’s worth,” he said. “There’s a good 100 points more in there.”
Nana Djimou agreed: “I like to be perfect but I never seem to get there.”
For the new French favourite, winning the gold medal has another purpose too.
“I win medals so that people can speak about my event,” she said. “It’s amazing, even in the French team there are athletes who do not know what the disciplines are in the pentathlon and the heptathlon.”
No doubt, a few more do now.