Long jumper Anju Bobby George has given India their first world athletics title although nine years after the ... Read More

BANGALORE: Anju Bobby George has given India their first world athletics title although nine years after the event was held in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

The long jumper, who won the silver at the World Athletics Final in 2005, was elevated to the top spot by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Monday, after gold medal winner Russia's Tatyana Kotova was disqualified for doping.

The revised IAAF results list shows a DQ (disqualified) against Kotova's name who had recorded a leap of 6.83m in the Monte Carlo meet, where the top eight athletes of the world in each event competed. Anju's 6.75m, which was good enough for the second place then, is now on top of the charts.

It is not clear whether Anju will also get the winner's prize cheque.

Similarly, Anju also moved up one place to fourth in the new long jump results of the 2005 Helsinki World Championships where Kotova lost her silver medal after her sample turned positive in re-tests conducted by IAAF last year.

"It's a happy moment as the truth has come out after nine long years. In fact, I believe that I deserved a medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics as two of the medal winners, Irina Simagina and Kotova, were later caught for doping," Anju, a bronze winner at the 2003 Worlds in Paris, told TOI.

She also pointed out that British athlete Jade Johnson had revealed long back that "there were only a few clean athletes in the 2004 Athens Olympics final."

However, no re-test is possible for Athens now as the WADA code stipulates that dope violations have to be detected within the eight-year statute of limitations.

"This should be one of the longest waits in the history of Indian athletics for a gold medal. It clearly proves the challenge we faced to compete against these tainted athletes and win medals," Anju's husband Bobby George said.

Anju last competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She attempted a comeback in 2012 to qualify for the London Games but was forced to abort her return following lung infection. The 36-year-old, who works as a senior officer in Customs, is now leading a semi-retired life taking care of her two sons.

2005 World Athletics Final: New results: 1. Anju Bobby George (Ind, 6.75m), 2. Grace Upshaw (USA, 6.67m), 3. Eunice Barber (Fra, 6.51).

