The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesAugust 8-24 2008
(BEIJING, August 17) -- Athens 2004 Triple Jump gold medalist Francoise Mbango Etone has done it again. Setting an Olympic record tonight jumping 15.39m she has finished in first place.
Mbango Etone was Cameroon's first individual Olympic gold medalist in Athens 2004. This year she has won the African Championships and jumped a best of 14.95m. She has clearly increased her distance significantly and smiles proudly from atop the podium.
The silver medal goes to Tatyana Lebedeva from Russia who jumped a season's best tonight of 15.32m. Lebedeva will add yet another medal to her vast collection. The Russian already has an Olympic silver medal when she attended the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. She also won bronze at Athens 2004 and won gold at the 2006 European championships and silver at the 2007 world championships. She will be going for double jump glory, as along with the Triple Jump, the Russian will be defending her Long Jump title from Athens 2004 later during the Games.
The 32-year-old Hrysopiyi Devetzi of Greece, finishes with a bronze medal this year with a jump of 15.23m. The Alexandria native took silver behind Mbango Etone at Athens 2004, bronze at the 2007 world championships, and silver at the 2006 European championships.
