Pole-vault champion Nunung aims to soar to new heights

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Indonesia's Nunung Jayadi may be the new record holder for the pole vault in the Southeast Asian Games, but he came up short of earning a place in the 2002 Asian Games.

He will have to clear 5.10 meters, five centimeters above the mark he set on Wednesday, to make it to Asia's most prestigious sporting event.

Nunung, 21, is confident he can meet the challenge.

"I'm sure I can make it because I cleared 5.25 meters in practice recently. Before competing in the Games, I still managed to jump more than 5 meters although I was in a very bad mood," said Nunung, who won the lone gold for his team on Wednesday, the last day of track and field.

The Indonesian rookie improved by 15 centimeters the record set by Edward Lasquette of the Philippines in the 1995 Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Nunung failed to clear 5.25m after his record-breaking leap, and said his legs were sore from practice on Tuesday.

Born in Jakarta on June 5, 1978, Nunung was a member of a soccer club when a track and field coach from the Ragunan Athletes School asked him and five other athletes to train for the pole vault in 1993.

Only Nunung and Yongky Permana have continued as pole- vaulters.

Nunung has withstood some hard knocks to improve his skills. He never misses training at the national training center and won his first international title at the Malaysia Open in 1994. He also won the gold in the ASEAN School Championships in the same year.

An injury sustained during training cost him the chance to take part in the Asian Junior Championships in 1995. He hurt himself after letting his pole slip during take-off and he missed the mat on landing. He suffered a severe injury to his ankle and he cut his arm on the pole. Recuperation took a month.

A few months later, he squandered an opportunity to compete in the 1995 SEA Games after eating food prepared by a street vendor and contracting typhoid.

Nunung, the seventh son of 10 of Madali and Madsani, said it served as a hard lesson in the importance of discipline.

"An athlete must be disciplined because it is the most powerful force to reach our goal," he said.

Nunung is known for being unable to perform well when irritated or upset. His girlfriend, sprinter and hurdler Dedeh Erawati, acknowledged his mercurial moods.

"He's easily upset by small things and I can only talk to him to try to get him to change his behavior."

They started dating after the 1997 SEA Games in Jakarta but said they do not have firm marriage plans.

Nunung, a recent graduate of the Ragunan school, wants to continue his studies at an institute of economics in Rawamangun, East Jakarta.

"It is because I want to be near Dedeh, who also studies there," Nunung said. (yan)