Translated material
A dozen in a million
So Lebedeva and Cherkasova, as well as ten foreign athletes who won in other qualifying disciplines, will continue to fight for the main prize, a jackpot of $1 million. To be eligible to share the jackpot, you must win the five remaining tournaments. Let us recall that among Russians, only two athletes won the main trophy of the “Golden League” - in 2000, Tatyana Kotova (long jump) and a year later Olga Egorova (3000 and 5000 m running).
Even before the start of the competition in Paris, no one doubted that Lebedeva was the main favorite in the women's triple jump. In her first attempt, the Russian woman made her best jump of the day, which turned out to be victorious. “After the first attempt, I felt that I was able and ready to show something special, and this desire failed me,” admitted the winner, appearing before the Parisian public with a new hairstyle - crimson hair.
Cherkasova also surprised the audience. A week earlier in Kazan, Matvey Telyatnikov’s ward completed two laps on the stadium treadmill with the best result of the season in the world - 1.56.93 seconds. In Paris, the Russian runner was serious about giving battle to her rivals. Indeed, Cherkasova’s run at the Stade de France was tactically structured very competently. In the very first meters of the distance, she led the peloton and was the first to cross the finish line, leaving behind Maria Mutola from Mozambique, who managed to show only the third result.
Other Russian participants in the Paris tournament failed to repeat the success of Cherkasova and Lebedeva. Yaroslav Rybakov became third in the high jump competition - 2 m 30 m. Swede Stefan Holm won in this discipline - 2.32 m. Javelin thrower Sergei Makarov was only fourth in the final protocol (83.89), letting Finn Tero Pitkamäki go ahead (85.95), Olympic champion of Athens Norwegian Andreas Torkildsen (85.29) and team colleague Alexander Ivanov (84.24).
Although the Paris tournament did not bring sensations in the form of world achievements, the organizers managed to break one record. The number of spectators who came to the Stade de France exceeded 70 thousand. Almost all tickets were sold two weeks before the start of the competition. Their prices ranged from 15 to 70 euros. At the entrance, spectators were given multi-colored T-shirts, depending on the sector. According to the organizers, the stands of the stadium were supposed to symbolize the colors of the five Olympic rings.