Pole-vault champion Nunung aims to soar to new heights
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)