Just one good leap, says Mr Long Jump

Yohannan, who lives the quiet life in Ernakulam, believes Anju has one flaw to iron out tomorrow. ‘‘She has to do a bit of thinking on how to gain height. That’s been her Achilles’ heel. The moment you gain height, you can do a long things in the air, say, for instance, landing. She tends to jump too flat. That can spoil her chances because she needs to touch the 7-metrte mark.’’

Before that, Yohannan feels, Anju needs to mark her run-up more precisely. ‘‘Her takeoff is equally important. From the time she runs to pick up speed till she hits the white bar-mark before leaping in the air, a good amount of calculation is needed. These are the basic requisites for a long jumper. Once you take care of these aspects, you are bound to get good results.’’

None of the 12 finalists touched the 7-metre mark in qualification, though Yohannan believes not much should be read into the fact. ‘‘You have six attempts in the final. And each one of them will try and go for that mark,’’ he warns.

As proof, he points out what happened at the Mexico Olympics in 1968. ‘‘Bob Beamon didn’t press hard when it came to qualifying. But in the finals he set a world mark with a jump of 8.90 metres.’’ No doubt, it required a Mike Powell to bury that mark at the world championship in Japan, more than two decades later.

Yohannan also said that one need not look back at Anju’s mediocre performances at the European and Grand Prix meets prior to the Olympics. ‘‘In fact, before Mexico Beamon kept his efforts well below the world mark. That’s why I am telling you that Anju will have to just forget everything that happened before Athens. She should know that this is her last Olympics and should go all out. She is capable and let’s hope she does for the billion-plus people of this country,’’ says Yohannan.