Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Women's triple jump explained

Event:	Women's triple jump
Games:	2004 Summer
Venue:	Olympic Stadium
Date:	21–23 August
Competitors:	33
Nations:	24
Gold:	Françoise Mbango Etone
Goldnoc:	CMR
Silver:	Hrysopiyi Devetzi
Silvernoc:	GRE
Bronze:	Tatyana Lebedeva
Bronzenoc:	RUS
Win Label:	Winning distance
Win Value:	15.30 AF
Prev:	2000
Next:	2008

The women's triple jump competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was held at the Olympic Stadium on 21–23 August.^[1]

Coming into the competition, reigning world champion Tatyana Lebedeva was a favorite, having jumped 15.34m and 15.33m. earlier in July, slightly improving her position as the number two jumper in history which she had held since 2000. World record holder Inessa Kravets from nine years earlier, was no longer a factor, but Yamilé Aldama was also jumping well with a 15.28 just three weeks before the Olympics.

In the qualifying round, Hrysopiyi Devetzi shocked everyone with her 15.32m automatic qualifier on her only attempt. That was a Beamonesque improvement of her personal best and placed her as the number three jumper in history at that point in time, just 2 cm short of Lebedeva. Only 14.45 was required as an automatic qualifier and 14 other women managed that, though none went over 14.90m.

In the first round of the final, Devetzi showed she was serious taking the early lead with 14.96m. In the second round Trecia-Kaye Smith jumped 15.02m but was overshadowed by Françoise Mbango Etone's African record, a 25 cm improvement over her own record best. In the third round Devetzi improved to 15.14m to move back into second place. In the fourth round Devetzi improved her position again to 15.25m with Aldama moving into third place with her best of the day 14.99m. In the fifth round Lebedeva finally got over 15m with a 15.04m to take third place. She solidified her position with a 15.14m in the final round but Etone also solidified her position with a second 15.30m. After fouling her first attempt, Etone had five successive jumps over 15m including two at 15.30m. It would be the first Olympic gold medal for Cameroon. Etone would go on to defend her medal four year later with Cameroon's second gold medal. Her winning 15.39m jump in Beijing stood as the second best jump in history until 2019.

Of the top 16 jumps in history, most are between Etone, Devetzi, Lebedeva and Aldama, and mostly from jumps in 2004. The only other athletes included in that group are two jumps by world record holder Kravets, two in 2019 by Yulimar Rojas and one each by Caterine Ibargüen and Yargelis Savigne (all three two time World Champions).^[2]

Competition format

The competition consisted of two rounds, qualification and final. In qualification, each athlete jumped three times (stopping early if they made the qualifying distance). At least the top twelve athletes moved on to the final; if more than twelve reached the qualifying distance, all who did so advanced. Distances were reset for the final round. Finalists jumped three times, after which the eight best jumped three more times (with the best distance of the six jumps counted).^[3]

Schedule

All times are Greece Standard Time (UTC+2)

Date	Time	Round
Saturday, 21 August 2004	20:35	Qualification
style=background:lemonchiffon	Monday, 23 August 2004	style=background:lemonchiffon	18:45	style=background:lemonchiffon	Final

Records

, the existing world record, Olympic record, and world leading jump were as follows:

No new records were set during the competition.

Results

Qualifying round

Rule: Qualifying standard 14.45 (Q) or at least 12 best qualified (q).

Rank	Group	Name	1	2	3	Result	Notes
1	A	Hrysopiyi Devetzi	15.32			15.32	Q, NR
2	A	Baya Rahouli	14.89			14.89	Q, NR
3	B	Yamilé Aldama	14.80			14.80	Q
4	A	Kéné Ndoye	14.32	14.79		14.79	Q
5	A	Tatyana Lebedeva	14.71			14.71	Q
6	B	Huang Qiuyan	14.09	14.29	14.66	14.66	Q, SB
7	B	Trecia-Kaye Smith		14.65		14.65	Q
8	B	Anna Pyatykh		14.62		14.62	Q
9	B	Françoise Mbango Etone	14.61			14.61	Q
10	A	Magdelín Martínez	14.57			14.57	Q
11	A	Olena Hovorova	14.56			14.56	Q
11	B	Adelina Gavrilă	14.56				14.56	Q
13	A	Olga Vasdeki		14.54		14.54	Q, SB
14	A	Yusmay Bicet	14.21	14.53		14.53	Q
15	A	Natallia Safronava	14.52			14.52	Q, SB
16	A	Mariana Solomon		14.29	14.42	14.42	PB
17	B	Simona La Mantia	14.00	14.39		14.39
18	B	Carlota Castrejana	14.32	14.37		14.37	=SB
19	A	Mariya Dimitrova			14.16	14.16
20	A	Ineta Radēviča	14.12	14.03	14.06	14.12	PB
21	B	Viktoriya Gurova	14.04		14.03	14.04
22	A	Tiombe Hurd	13.98	13.97	13.93	13.98
23	B	Heli Koivula Kruger		13.70	13.98	13.98
24	A	Olga Bolşova	13.90	13.87	13.64	13.90
25	A	Tatyana Bocharova	13.18	13.41	13.81	13.81
26	A	Šárka Kašpárková			13.79	13.79
27	B	Anastasiya Juravleva	13.64	13.52	13.51	13.64
28	B	Yuliana Pérez		13.62	13.51	13.62
29	B	Liliana Zagacka	13.36	13.59	13.41	13.59
30	B	Tetyana Shchurenko		13.12	13.55	13.55
31	B	Julia Dubina	13.36	12.61	12.90	13.36
32	A	Zhang Hao		13.30		13.30
33	B	Athanasia Perra	13.19			13.19

Final

Rank	Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	Result	Notes
	Françoise Mbango Etone		15.30	15.02	15.17	15.21	15.30	15.30	AF
	Hrysopiyi Devetzi	14.96	14.59	15.14	15.25		14.92	15.25
	Tatyana Lebedeva		14.84	14.95		15.04	15.14	15.14
	Trecia-Kaye Smith		15.02	13.23			14.70	15.02
	Yamilé Aldama		14.90	14.74	14.99	13.92	14.19	14.99
	Baya Rahouli	14.75	14.86	14.57	14.76		14.68	14.86
	Magdelín Martínez	14.70	14.85	14.58	14.50	14.51	14.76	14.85
	Anna Pyatykh	14.16	14.58				14.79	14.79
	Yusmay Bicet			14.57	Did not advance			14.57
10	Olena Hovorova	14.07	14.35	14.35	Did not advance			14.35
11	Olga Vasdeki	14.34	14.08		Did not advance			14.34
12	Huang Qiuyan	13.85	14.33	14.04	Did not advance			14.33
13	Natallia Safronava	14.20		14.22	Did not advance			14.22
14	Kéné Ndoye		14.09	14.18	Did not advance			14.18
15	Adelina Gavrilă			13.86	Did not advance			13.86

External links

Official Olympic Report

Notes and References

Web site: Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Athens 2004. IAAF. 12 February 2015.
Web site: Women's triple jump.
Web site: Athletics at the 2004 Athens Summer Games: Women's Triple Jump. https://web.archive.org/web/20200417174453/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/2004/ATH/womens-triple-jump.html. dead. 17 April 2020. Athens 2004. Sports Reference. 13 February 2015.