Posted: June 30, 2004

Athletics: Cloete 'Pleased' With Season's First Two-Meter Effort

By Bob Ramsak, Track Profile

(c) 2004 Track Profile all rights reserved TrackProfile.com

ZAGREB, Croatia -- After her winning two-meter leap at yesterday's Zagreb Grand Prix, two-time World high jump champion Hestrie Cloete was visibly thrilled.

“It’s a season’s best for me, so I’m very pleased,” said Cloete, who scaled 1.98 in both Ostrava and Bergen earlier this month, winning the latter, and finishing second in the former. Here, she avenged a loss to two-time World Junior champion Blanka Vlasic on the Croatian's home turf. It was a massive clearance, perhaps worth 2.04, an estimate confirmed by the South African's coach. "My coach told me my two-meter jump was very good. It felt quite good."

Two of her three attempts at 2.02 were solid as well, boding well as her Olympic campaign begins in earnest. But she's in no hurry to go higher. "For higher heights, we can wait until later in the season. I want to be at my top at the Olympic Games.”

At the 2000 games in Sydney, she captured the silver medal behind Yelena Yelesina of Russia. Both cleared 2.01, but Cloete had a costly miss at 1.96.

Cloete has suggested in the past that this year may be her last, but yesterday, the 25-year-old remained noncommittal. "That's a decision I will make in Monaco after the World Athletics Final," she said.

Cloete, last year's female IAAF-Athlete-Of-The-Year, earned more than $323,000 in prize money alone in 2003, second only to Maria Mutola, the sole winner of the 2003 $1 million jackpot. On Friday, Cloete will compete in the Golden Gala Golden League meet in Rome, one of just six winners from the kick-off meet in Bergen, Norway competing who are eligible for the jackpot in 2004. Also competing will be another Russian, Yelena Slesarenko, who has a 2.04 outdoor season-pacing effort under her belt already. Slesarenko, just 22, won the World Indoor championships title at Budapest in March.

The TRACK PROFILE REPORT is a news and feature service published by the Track Profile News Service. In addition to regularly dispatched news, profile and interview features, subscribers also receive exclusive on-site updates from major national and international competitions, usually within 24 hours. Copyright (c) 2004 by Bob Ramsak and TRACK PROFILE. All rights reserved. Reproduction, republication, reposting and retransmission in ANY form is strictly prohibited without express permission from the editor.