Did Anju miss a step in her bid for the Great Leap?

Diagnosis is always easier with the benefit of hindsight but as Anju and Robert Bobby George sift through the data from her effort at Helsin...

Diagnosis is always easier with the benefit of hindsight but as Anju and Robert Bobby George sift through the data from her effort at Helsinki, one question will crop up: Did she rely too much on Bobby?

He’s an astute manager and the person who knows Anju the athlete best. But does he have the skills to help her overcome both tough competition and adverse weather conditions? Or would another stint with Mike Powell, or a similar figure, have been of use?

Working with Powell before the Paris championships had transformed Anju into a medal winner. The techniques she picked up from him and the work schedule and methods that he had devised for her taking into account her body structure were flawless. It was only a short stint but paid handsome dividends — her 6.70 metres held off a terrific field of world-beaters.

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At Helsinki, there were several reasons for her failure to win a medal, chiefly her poor technique on a wet, windy and cold evening.

The diminutive Tianna Madison had all sorts of problems with her running, jump and landing. But her technique seemed to be the best and helped her stun the rest of the field with a late, late surge, her personal best of 6.89 getting her the gold.

Tatyana Kotova, possessed of easily the best technique, seemed to have sewn up the gold with her second jump of 6.79 but was pipped at the post.

Similarly Eunice Barber rode three foul jumps to get the bronze.

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Anju, meanwhile, began with her season’s best of 6.66 but just couldn’t build on it. The Powell factor is a touchy topic in the George household, chiefly because of the feeling that Robert didn’t get enough credit for Anju’s Paris medal. Though they do admit that to the adjustments he wanted implemented in her strides, the leap and landing.

After yesterday’s event Anju said her performance was more to do with the weather. ‘‘We have more potential than the Europeans or the Americans but they make up the distance with better facilities. In India, the yardstick to measure one’s potential is the number of occasions he or she is able to win medals,” she said.

Anju is full of potential and can win medals at Asian level. At next month’s championship in Incheon (Korea), she may go on to win gold. But all said and done, Anju and Robert may have erred somewhere between Paris and Helsinki in search for sponsorship and other things.

Anju and her friends need not despair because she has it in her to bounce back.