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| Yamile Aldama of Sudan competes in the women’s triple jump qualification during the world athletics championship at the Olympic stadium in Berlin in this August 15, 2009 file photograph. Former Cuba and Sudan triple jumper Aldama will make her debut for Britain and Northern Ireland at the age of 39 after being selected in a 67-strong squad for this month’s World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Aldama, having failed to obtain a British passport in time for the Athens Olympics in 2004, chose to compete for Sudan and finished fifth. (Reuters |
Former Cuba and Sudan triple jumper Yamile Aldama will make her debut for Britain and Northern Ireland at the age of 39 after being selected in a 67-strong squad for this month’s World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
The Cuban-born athlete represented her birth country at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, finishing fourth, and became world number one in 2003. Having failed to obtain a British passport in time for the Athens Olympics in 2004 she chose to compete for Sudan, finishing fifth.
Aldama, who has switched her allegiance to Britain after eventually obtaining a British passport last year, will be 39-years-old before the world championships and will become the oldest female athlete to make her debut for Britain in track and field.
A good performance in Daegu could see her selected for the London 2012 Games.
Strong medal contenders in the squad selected by head coach Charles van Commenee include world and European heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis, Phillips Idowu, who holds both titles in the triple jump, and European 5,000 and 10,000 metres champion Mo Farah.
European and Commonwealth 400 metre hurdles champion Dai Greene also makes the squad alongside struggling Olympic 400 metre champion Christine Ohuruogu, whose recent form has been poor.
The World Championships take place between Aug. 27 and Sept. 4.
Van Commenee backs struggling Ohuruogo
British athletics chief Charles van Commenee has backed Christine Ohuruogo to come good as the Olympic 400-metre champion struggles to rediscover her best form.
The 27-year-old sprinter has not managed to break 50 seconds since her victory in the final in Beijing three years ago and her current season’s best of 51.49secs has left her outside the top 30.
Ohuruogo, who has struggled with a quadriceps injury this season which also disrupted her running in 2010, finished last in the London Grand Prix meeting at Crystal Palace last weekend.
However UK Athletics head coach van Commenee believes Ohuruogo is on the right track as she prepares for this month’s World Championships in Daegu, with London 2012 the long-term goal.
“Obviously there are concerns, but it is probably a phase that she has to go through,” Van Commenee said.
“She hasn’t performed really well for the last few years and it is not as if you go from place 30 straight onto the rostrum again.
“You have to go through some painful experiences like in Crystal Palace. She is on the way up in preparation for London especially, but Daegu fits in that pathway towards the Games.”
Van Commenee also praised Ohuruogo’s willingness to put her poor form under the microscope of a home crowd.