By Yoon Chul
DAEGU -- Olga Kaniskina of Russia won the women's 20-kilometer race walk, finally breaking the so-called curse of the "Daily Programme" that has been plaguing the 13th IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Wednesday.
The "curse" is that athletes who have made the cover of this official daily booklet released by the organizers have gone on to give dismal performances. Save for Kaniskina.
Thanks to the Russian's golden performance the organizing committee is also relieved.
"Now we can relax a little," an organizing committee member related to selecting who will appear on the cover told The Korea Times.
"When Robles crossed the finish line first (on Day 3) we thought we didn't need to be concerned anymore but after he was disqualified, our worry increased," the official said.
The organizing committee provides the Daily Programme at the Media Press Center (MPC).
Most reporters pick up the book entering the MPC and they naturally look at who is on the front.
But whenever an athlete has featured on the cover, they have failed to live up to expectations.
Defending pole vault champion Steven Hooker of Australia, the world fastest man Usain Bolt of Jamaica, world record hurdler Dayron Robles of Cuba and Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia were all on the front page.
Hooker crashed out early, unable to get over 5.50 meters in the men's qualifying competition. Pawel Wojciechowski of Poland eventually won after needing less attempts to clear 5.90 meters than the last two standing.
Bolt's situation made his failure even worse. As his two strongest contenders, Asafa Powell of Jamaica and Tyson Gay of United States failed to even make the starting line due to injury, almost everyone expected Bolt to win.
But in the final Bolt was disqualified after a false start.
The 1.95-meter sprinter is poor at getting out of the blocks due to his height, but his mistake was more costly as he didn't need to take such a big risk.
In the men's 110-meter hurdles Robles was dramatically disqualified, after beating Jason Richardson of the U.S. and former world record holder Liu Xiang of China to the finish line.
At the second from last hurdle Robles right arm hit Liu's left arm. The Cuban again made contact at the last hurdle causing the Chinese hurdler to stumble to third.
After video replays confirmed the illegal actions Robles was stripped of the victory.
The organizing committee hoped Isinbayeva would break the ongoing hex in the women's pole vault, Tuesday.
But on Day 4 the Russian world record holder could only finish sixth after succeeding at 4.65 meters. Fabiana Murer of Brazil went on to take gold after clearing 4.85.
Based on the schedule, Bolt, women’s high jumper, Blanka Vlasic of Croatia, women's 800-meter runner, Caster Semenya of South Africa, the U.S. 4x100 relay team and women's 200-meter sprinter Allyson Felix, also of the U.S., are strong contenders to appear on future front covers.
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