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Mihambo.

In 2016, at the Rio Olympics, German long-distance runner Mihamba finished fourth with a performance of 695 cm. That's just below the podium. Five years later, the athlete from Heidelberg added five centimetres, apparently one for each year that passed, and in Tokyo, at the thirty-second Games (three of which were not held), she jumped 700 cm. It was the last attempt in the competition, and the distance of seven metres meant an Olympic gold medal for the German. Mihamba has been a fixture among long distance athletes for many years, but I probably wouldn't have etched her name in my memory if it weren't for the 2018 European Athletics Championships, which were on Czech TV. Michal Dusík, whom I met while working with him on curling commentary, was the commentator for those broadcasts, and we also know each other from working together at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. I like Michal's talk, I highly value his insider commentary full of data and interesting facts, and I appreciate his occasional gentle humor, never going too far. I watched the broadcast a bit distractedly and at one point I became focused. What kind of delusions is this Michael talking about? Why would a representative of an Asian country compete at the European Championships? When he repeated for the umpteenth time that a Malaysian was going to attempt, I didn't give up and checked the graphics. The athlete in question was Malaika Mihambo from Germany, unknown to me at the time. To this day, I still don't know if the emphasis on the first name was just Michal's subtle teasing. But since then Malaika Mihambo has been one of my favourite athletes and I sincerely wish her gold in Tokyo this year.

 

photo credit: June 2020 (womenfitness.net)

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