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Maria de Lourdes MUTOLA won Mozambique's first ever Olympic gold medal in Sydney then followed up with a dramatic victory over her rival Stephanie GRAF - who claimed the silver in Sydney - at the 2001 World Indoor Championships in Lisbon. This season has seen her lose twice to GRAF at Golden League meetings in Paris and Oslo.
GRAF had the two fastest times in the world at 1:58.20 and 1:58.44 until the Herculis Monaco Golden League meeting where MUTOLA was pushed all the way down the finishing straight by Fabiane dos SANTOS of Brazil. MUTOLA’S time was 1:57.11 with the Brazilian finishing just .05 seconds behind in second place. Until this year dos SANTOS’ best time was 2:01.70.
In all, nine women ran under 2:00 minutes with Faith MACHARIA third in 1:58.34 knocking almost two seconds from her personal best. Absent from the field, apparently confident with her performances on the circuit, GRAF was back in training camp putting the final touches on her fitness program. However, she was lured to London for the Norwich Union meeting where dos SANTOS handed her a rare defeat 1:57.65 to 1:58.22.
The Austrian has three consecutive Golden League victories and when the Golden League resumes following the World Championships she is in a position to take a cut of the 50 kg of gold on offer. But first there is Edmonton where MUTOLA can be expected to take the field out in a fast time and try to hold off her rivals. MUTOLA’s best time of 1:55.19 is the fastest time of any active 800m runner but it was recorded seven years ago!
A trio of Russians have impressed with a sweep in Lausanne led by Irina MISTYUKEVICH, 30 year-old Natalya TSYGANOVA and Olga RASPOPOVA, consigning American star Regina JACOBS to fourth place. RASPAPOVA will not run here but the Russian champion Svetlana CHERKASOVA (1:57.59) could be a contender. MISTYUKEVICH is perhaps also an outside shot depending on who peaks at the right time. Another athlete coming into form at the right time is Olympic bronze medalist Kelly HOLMES of Britain who ran 1:58.85 in London.
Tactics will play an enormous part in this event, MUTOLA having a history of "incidents" in championships - she was disqualified at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg for stepping out of her lane and was herself pushed during the recent Oslo Golden League meeting which allowed GRAF to sprint past to victory. This should be a battle between GRAF and MUTOLA with the Russians, dos SANTOS and HOLMES waiting for either to falter.
