Women's Discus Throw - PREVIEW

Could Cuba attain only its second ever women’s Olympic Discus Throw crown?

Maritza Marten won the 1992 Barcelona Olympic title, the first and only medal so far in Games history for the Cuban women in the Discus Throw. This year Yarelis Barrios looks like she has all the credentials to return the title to the Caribbean island.

The Osaka World championship bronze medallist is 25-years-old and is the reigning World University Games and Pan Am Games champion from last year.

In Osaka she opened with a 63.90m personal best release which held on by 18cm for the World Championship bronze, having earlier improved her PB in qualifying to 63.44m, having entered the Champs with a career best of 63.27.

Barrios has continued to improve in 2008, a 63.64m PB on 11 May being increased again in Bilbao on 21 June by her mighty 65.80m which made a fourth place dent in the current world season list.

The two women who were ahead of the Cuban in Osaka do not compete in Beijing, Germany’s World champion Franka Dietzsch succumbing to persistent injury while European gold medallist Darya Pishchalnikova is one of a group of Russian athletes recently provisionally suspended for doping violations.

As well as that absent Russian, ahead of Barrios on the season’s list are Romania’s Nicoleta Grasu (66.51) and USA’s Stephanie Brown-Trafton (66.17).

Grasu, at 36, is a veteran of major competitions with a World Champ silver medal in 2001 and a bronze in 1999. Six in 2004, Grasu was even seventh in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics! Perhaps more meaningful, she was the athlete that Barrios beat by 18cm for the bronze medal last summer in Osaka.

Stephanie Brown-Trafton is one of a strong American contingent of which Aretha Thurmond (65.20) the national champion is perhaps the most recognised international name having taken silver at the 2006 World Cup. She also has a pedigree stretching back to 1996 Olympics though hers was an exit in the qualifying round. Suzy Powell-Roos with 63.59m this year, is the Area record holder (67.67m – 2007) and is the other US entrant.

China has entered four athletes (one reserve) - Sun Taifeng, Song Aimin, Ma Xuejun, Li Yanfeng - all of which are capable of reaching the final. Sun was fifth in Osaka last summer, while Ma finished in ninth in that same World Championships final.

Another Cuban could feasibly challenge for honours. Yania Ferrales who has thrown 65.02m this year, was 11th in Osaka.

We have already spoken about many ‘veterans’ in this preview, well in Russia’s reigning Olympic champion, Natalya Sadova, 36, Belarussia’s 2000 Olympic winner, Ellina Zvereva, 47, and her compatriot the 2003 World champion Irina Yatchenko, 42, the start list for the women’s Discus Throw qualification is going to be a very experienced one indeed; 66.08m, 62.75m, and 63.49m are respectively these women’s season’s bests at the time of writing.

In the battle for medals do not overlook the experienced Czech Vera Pospíšilová-Cechlová (63.10) or Ukraine’s Natalya Fokina-Semenova who has improved her PB by over two metres this year (64.70).

Chris Turner for the IAAF