The Ukrainian won gold in the high jump. It would be hard to imagine a worse ending.
Tatyana Postnikova August 4, 2024, 23:00 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Yaroslava Maguchikh took home a valuable medal. But she had no competition.
Ukrainian Yaroslava Maguchikh won Olympic gold in the high jump. This is the only award that the 22-year-old has not received until today. I received the medal from Yaroslav without much of a fight. It would be hard to imagine a worse ending to such an important title.
Do you remember the high jump final at the Tokyo Olympics? This nervousness until the last seconds? This worries about Maria Lasitskene, who didn’t reach the heights the first time? This rivalry, when all the jumpers don’t want to give in until the last moment? Unfortunately, this time the medal match didn’t bring us such emotions. And it’s not just the absence of the strongest Russian woman.
After Lasitskene was eliminated from international competitions, a clear leader in high jump emerged in the world. Yaroslava Maguchikh won one tournament after another, claiming one title after another. No one could resist the magnificent athlete. The Ukrainian confirmed her medal aspirations by breaking Stefka Kostadinova’s world record, which had stood for 37 years, in early July. Yaroslava moved the bar from 2.09 to 2.10 m.
What was Maria Lasitskene’s victory in Tokyo like?
Masha is the greatest! A film should be made about this gold medal of Lasitskene at the Olympics!
Given these circumstances, everyone expected that the Ukrainian would not have a hard time winning the Olympic gold medal. This is the only top-level award that the 22-year-old has not yet won.
At the same time, the fight was expected to be no worse than at the Tokyo Games. Still, of those three winners, only Lasitskene did not come to Paris. The 2020 Olympic silver medalist Nikola Olislagers was there. In addition, Eleanor Petterson and Irina Gerashchenko were to impose the fight on the favorites.
But the intrigue did not happen. Only two reached a height of 1.98 m: Maguchikh and Olislagers. Both reached this level without any problems. Yaroslava easily took two meters on the first attempt, Nikola – with difficulty – on the third.
Just a month ago it was clear that the Maguchy had no equal
The Ukrainian jumper broke a world record that had stood for 37 years. Simply fantastic!
In the end, everything was decided at 2.02 m. The Australian started first, but failed three times. The Ukrainian did not reach the height in the first two attempts and, seeing her opponent’s failure, decided not to jump the third and asked to move the bar to 2.04 m, but Maguchikh did not manage to reach that height.
Yaroslava took her long-awaited gold. But the most important victory at the most important Olympic Games for the Maguchys turned out to be too boring: there was no wrestling, not even an attempt to break some kind of world record. It seems that the public did not deserve such boredom.
