Hestrie Cloete celebrates (© Getty Images)
South Africa's Hestrie Cloete, the World female athlete of 2003, will return to the Estadio Olímpico Universitario as the star of the women's High Jump at the 2004 Banamex Grand Prix on 22 May 2004.
Second World title
Last year in the Mexican capital, Cloete took one of her 17 victories of the season which also included wins in Paris, where she claimed her second World title, and the World Athletics Final in Monaco.
Her 2.06 World Championship win in the French capital was an African record, and made her the fourth best jumper all-time behind Bulgaria´s Stefka Kostadinova (2.09) and Lyudmila Andonova (2.07), and Germany´s Heike Henkel (2.07).
With an impressive consistency over two metres, the 25-year old jumper reached the top in the IAAF Overall World Rankings, valid for the Athlete of the Year award. Therefore, she became the first African woman to receive such a trophy.
Athens gold in her sights
She won the Mexican meeting last year with 1.97, ahead of Germany´s Daniela Rath (1.93) and USA's Gwen Wentland (1.90).
The best jump ever achieved in the 1968 Olympic stadium which hosts the Banamex, belongs to Cuba´s Silvia Costa (1.97), from her win at the 2nd Iberoamerican Champs in 1988.
Cloete's presence in Mexico will provide extra incentive to local Romary Rifka, the 2003 Pan American Games silver medallist, and who recently jumped 1.97m which won her place for the Olympics this summer.
Cloete the 2000 Sydney Olympic silver medallist, has the gold in Athens firmmly in her sights, but also aims to become the first woman to reach the 2.10m barrier during her career.
She joins Kenya´s Bernard Lagat and Mexico´s Ana Guevara as the first World and Olympic medallists confirmed for the Banamex meeting on 22 May.
