Christian Olsson lands in the men's Triple Jump in Stockholm (© Johan Frick-Meijer)
Given the quality and the competitive intensity of current world class athletics it is a very tough task to stay undefeated during a full outdoor season.
This is a statement that is emphatically proven by the fact that out of the nineteen male non-road World Champions that were crowned in Paris last August only five managed to keep perfect seasonal records in their respective specialist events.
Four of those were runners - Hicham El Guerrouj in the 1500m/mile (7 out of 7) , Kenenisa Bekele in the 10000m (2 out of 2), Saif Saaeed Shaheen in the 3000m Steeplechase (8 out of 8) and Felix Sanchez in the 400m Hurdles (11 out of 11) - and the sole field event representative in this exclusive quintet was triple jumper Christian Olsson of Sweden, who made it 15 out of 15!
This is Olsson's 2003 season condensed into the essential facts:
Date - Meet - Mark - Winning Margin - No. of 17m-jumps
9 Jun - Chania, GRE - 17.77m - (27cm) - 2
15 Jun - Dortmund, GER - 17.21m - (31cm) - 3
22 Jun - Euro Cup 1st League - 17.38m - (64cm) - 4
1 Jul - Växjö, SWE - 17.16m - (54cm) - 1
6 Jul - Rethymno, GRE - 17.55m - (43cm) - 4
13 Jul - Gateshead, GBR - 17.92m w - (31cm) - 4
24 Jul - Karlstad, SWE - 17.43m (64cm) - 4
1 Aug - National Ch - 17.54m - (114cm) - 5
5 Aug - DN Galan - 17.36m - (2cm) - 5
12 Aug - Malmö, SWE - 17.36m - (75cm) - 4
23 Aug - World Ch (qual) - 17.56m - (n/a) - 1
25 Aug - World Ch (final) - 17.72m - (44cm) - 5
2 Sep - Göteborg, SWE - 17.57m w - (100cm) - 3
5 Sep - FIN vs SWE - 17.51m - (195cm) - 2
14 Sep - World Athletics Final - 17.55m - (46cm) - 3
20 Sep - Moscow, RUS - 17.34m - (43cm) - 2
Median - 17.51m (46cm win) - 4 x 17m+ jumps
Average - 17.49m (62cm win) - 3.4 x 17m+ jumps
Translated into conventional language a “standard” meet for Olsson this summer thus included four 17m-jumps with a top mark of 17.50 and a winning margin of half a metre! So if there could be some levels when it comes to “undefeatedness” Olsson was very much undefeated in 2003!
It could also be noted that the only 1-digit win - the 2 cm advantage on Marian Oprea at the DN Galan on home turf in Stockholm - easily could have been much greater. Because the TV replay of the take-off of Christian’s red flagged huge (way beyond 17.70) opening effort indicated to this writer's eye at least that it probably was not a foul at all!
A fundamental requisite for being able to stay undefeated is of course superior athletic capacity but you also need some amount of luck in the sense of avoiding untimely injury or illness. At least if you are prepared to face tough opponents whenever you step on the track - like Olsson did this summer.
If you discard the Swedish Championships as well as the match against Finland, Olsson had top class opponents in each and every of the other thirteen meets.
On each occasion he faced at least one other jumper from the top-25 of 2003! He averaged almost three encounters with each and every one of the seventeen other 17m-jumpers of 2003 and had no less than 21 encounters with the five jumpers besides himself that surpassed 17.50: 3-0 vs Oprea, 3-0 vs Edwards, 6-0 vs Bell, 4-0 vs Valyukevich and 5-0 vs Davis!
But still the most remarkable feature of Olsson’s summer of 2003 was his “conveyor belt” manufacturing 17m-jumps.
His two best series of the season came when meeting Jonathan Edwards in “the Lion’s den” at Gateshead (17.69 - 17.74 - 17.92w - 17.61 - X - pass) and in the World Championships final (17.72 - 17.52 - 17.50 - 17.52 - 17.34 - 15.33)!
Altogether Christian in his 15 meets this summer was permitted to make 85 attempts, 10 of which he passed but out of the remaining 75 no less than 64 (85%) were legal, and 52 of those (81%) were beyond 17 metres!
His career total of 17m-jumps now stands at 142 collected over a period of just two years and three months! Since first surpassing that “magical” barrier Olsson has missed it only twice in 55 meets!
But no matter how impressive his 2003 Olsson is still not in any way content with what he has achieved so far. Having won the European titles indoors and outdoors in 2002, and both World titles this year, the Olympic gold medal - the major title still missing - is the obvious main goal for 2004. And of course he has every intention of defending his World Indoors gold medal in Budapest too.
And then there is some serious catching up to do statistically to rival the magnificent career record of the now retired Jonathan Edwards (GBR).
There is much more than the outstanding World Record of 18.29 that makes the Briton the “Greatest ever” statistically in the history of the Triple Jump: eg. in 1995 he had ten meets over 17.50 including five over 18.00 and the following year he recorded sixteen over 17.00 including no less than twelve over 17.50.
So there certainly is no lack of challenges remaining for Christian Olsson despite being the undisputed No 1 of 2003! At age 23 he is still a very young man in an event where maturity and experience usually tells by making the late twenties and the early thirties your best triple jumping years!
