The seven-jinx that tripped Anju

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></div> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/831032.cms" alt="/photo/831032.cms" border="0" /></div> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" justify="">Onam-eve will never be the same for Anju and Bobby George. Not winning a long jump Olympic medal at Athens was nothing but <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Illiad</span>, Homer''s Greek tragedy, rewritten.At 27, Anju is not getting any younger. And Beijing is four years away.<br /></div> <div class="Normal">"Well I''m certainly not thinking of retiring or anything of that sort," said Anju in the mixed lane on Friday night, her face unable to camouflage the deep anguish. Understandably, the duo is keeping their thoughts to themselves.<br /><br />An Indian athlete informed that the ''Do Not Disturb'' sign has been hung up on their apartment door in the Athlete''s Village. And Anju has turned to Bobby''s brothers Baiju, Stanley and wife Lovely, Winston and Mathews, and some friends, for solace.<br /><br />Expectations, from the nation and herself, rose after Anju qualified for the final. She set a national record of 6.83 metres with her first attempt.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal">Hopes soared again but the Anju of the qualifying round and the Anju in the final were two vastly different persons.<br /><br />On Wednesday, she was relaxed and chirpy. On Friday, her face had a sunken look, and she appeared to allow minor things to irritate her, losing focus in the process. ''I am not making excuses for the performance," she said. "But the pollution and medal ceremonies were not allowing me to concentrate.<br /><br />"Twice when I hit the board. I felt wobbly as if the spikes were giving way," Anju said.<br /><br />With a Maurice Greene-like personality, Anju would have learnt to enjoy the day, crack jokes and relax. Each time her jumps got shorter, her face turned more grim. Coach-cumhusband Bobby, like most other coaches,was seated near the pit. The two were constantly talking to each other. Obviously the coach''s point wasn''t getting into the head of the pupil.<br /><br />"After the first jump, I felt uneasy and giddy," she said. "I was feeling tired too. I really don''t know what had affected me."<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section3"><div class="Normal">A lesson that''s stark for Anju is that she needs to be a seven-plus jumper in events like the Olympics. She may win International Athletics Associations Federation (IAAF)-conducted events like the Grand Prix, Golden League and others with 6.60 or 6.70-metre jumps but the Olympics are a different proposition.<br /><br />Hopes of a medal vanished when the three Russian gold-medallist Tatyana Lebedeva, Irina Simagina and Tatyana Kotova went over seven metres and raised the competition to the stratospheric level. Even a top athlete like Sweden''s Carolina Kluft did not make the final cut of eight athletes. At least Anju did, with a national mark to boot.<br /><br />"That was incidental and not my target, she said."I had something else in sight."<br /><br />There is only one athlete in India who can now break Anju''s record of 6.83 metres. Anju herself. Which means she can get closer to 7m. The result of the Olympics is a big blow. She needs to take a few days'' break and focus on the IAAF events next month.<br /><br />Can Anju touch the magical mark? Not King Mahabali (the festival of Onam is celebrated to mark his return to his people after being sent into the nether world) but Anju herself, can provide the answer.</div> </div>