IAAF
Elite Hammer Centre hosts top throws event
14 July 2002 - The IAAF Elite Hammer Centre in Szombathely, Hungary, part of the
Association's European network of High Performance Centres, will turn the
spotlight on the throwing events with a Gala event on Tuesday, 16 July.
The women's Hammer Throw, in particular, looks set to be a superb event, with three top Cubans, Yunika Crawford, Aldenay Vassallo, and the reigning World Champion Yipsi Moreno, taking on four top Commonwealth Games contenders Tasha Williams (NZL), Karyne Di Marco (AUS), Brooke Krueger (AUS) and Bronwyn Eagles (AUS), who finished third behind Moreno in Edmonton last year. The field will be completed by the first ever Olympic champion in this event, Poland's Kamila Skolimoska, who is anxious to make up for her disappointing results at the last World Junior Championships and in Edmonton.
In an effort to ensure top competition in another women's throw, the Discus, which is a Grand Prix scoring event in 2002, a truly international field has been compiled, including two Australians: Alison Lever (best of 63.25 in 2001) and Monique Nacsa, a South African: Elizna Naude, two Norwegians: Grete Etholm and Elin Isane, a Cuban: Yunedis Bunne, and a Yugoslav: Daniela Curovic.
Completing the programme will be a men's Hammer which includes Libor Charfreitag (SVK) and Stuart Rendell (AUS) and a men's Javelin which includes Woldemar Lusis (LAT) - son of one of the greatest Javelin throwers in history, Jan Lusis.
The attraction of competing in this unusual event was so much for a group of five Swiss throwers, that they will hire a private plane and fly to Hungary themselves!
