JOIN USRenjith Maheswary added another forgettable line to his career summary when he exited without registering a mark in the triple jump qualifying round of Olympic Games athletics.
Renjith fouled all his three attempts, continuing his miserable performances on the world stage. He needed to jump at least 17.10 metres or figure in the top-12 to make it to the final but going over the take-off board in the first two tries, he put himself under pressure.
In the third, he just ran through after the hop segment, making a shocking exit. Renjith was clueless on why he couldn’t register a valid jump. “I was fit and ready to go, I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I was well past the board in the first but fouled the second one narrowly. While running in for the third, my knees clattered against each other, that is why I had to run through. What can you do if you don’t have the luck,” said Renjith.
The triple jumper had done the same thing in the World Championships in Daegu last year while at the Beijing Olympic Games, he came up with a pathetic performance, delivering only 15.57 metres to make a first-round exit.
Renjith had qualified for the Olympic Games by registering exactly the ‘B’standard of 16.85 metres and had been training in Italy under his coach Evegene Shivilli. Doubts were expressed about his fitness at the selection committee meeting and the Athletics Federation of India had asked him to prove his fitness. A mail from his coach, stating he had jumped 16.45 metres off nine strides, was considered proof enough by the AFI who cleared him to compete here.
The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, who holds the national record of 17.07
metres, himself had stated he was geared up to make an impact in London. He did make one, but not in the positive way.
American Christian Taylor led the qualifying charts with a 17.21M leap while Britain’s hope, Beijing silver medallist Phillips Idowu -- on whose fitness there was plenty of questions -- went out after jumping only 16.53 metres. The final qualifying spot was taken by Dzmitry Platnitski of Belarus at 16.62 metres.