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So when the 30-year-old athlete from Calgary pondered the logistics of Saturday’s second and final day of the Olympic heptathlon, she figured it’d be best if Anika didn’t come to the crowded, loud stadium. The event wouldn’t be wrapping up until after 9 p.m. local time, be well past bed time. Staying away made good sense.
It hurt to think about how Zelinka came to regret that decision a little after 9 p.m., after she’d weathered one of the most crushing disappointments of her illustrious competitive career. Instead of celebrating the Olympic medal she’d hoped to snag, she found herself lamenting a seventh-place finish that amounted to an opportunity lost.
In the culmination of what was otherwise her best season as an athlete, she simply came up short in the high jump and the long jump — two key disciplines of the seven-event, two-day competition.
If every parent has felt the stresses and strains of a tough day soothed by the perspective of a child’s loving embrace, Zelinka spent the moments after her competition craving that redeeming solace.
“I could really use a hug from (Anika) right now,” Zelinka said after a long cry. “It would just be the best thing ever. I’m just like, ‘Aw, she could have stayed up late. What was I thinking?’”
On Saturday night, it was another Jessica who stole the show in the heptathlon. Jessica Ennis, Britain’s Olympic darling of darlings and one of Zelinka’s friends, won the event with a score of 6,955 points. Germany’s Lilli Schwarzkopf won silver with 6,649 while Russia’s Tatyana Chernova took bronze with 6,628. Brianne Theisen of Humboldt, Sask., finished 10th with 6,383 points.
Doing the stark calculation, Zelinka’s coach Les Gramantik figured Zelinka left about 150 points on the table with her sub-par performances in the jumps. Add 150 to Zelinka’s total of 6,480 and you get 6,630 — good enough for the third spot on the podium. Alas, in heptathlon’s point system, not excelling in the jumps can punish a point total.
“I could have messed up a throw or anything, but the jumps are not forgiving,” Zelinka said. “I got a second chance (after a poor showing in the high jump), but I messed it up again with the long jump. … You just can’t make up those points. … I don’t know why I just couldn’t put a half-decent jump together. Just a half-decent jump.”
Zelinka had some inspiring high points here. Her clocking of 12.65 seconds in the 100-metre hurdles was a personal best. She had a season best in shot put and a personal best in the 200 metres. But her best clearance of 1.68 metres in high jump was well short of her personal best of 1.79. It didn’t help that her best effort in Saturday’s long jump was more than half a metre off the leaps of her best colleagues.
As it was, Zelinka knew she’d likely come to the end of her Olympic chances. She finished fifth in Beijing. She was asked about the prospect of competing in Rio in 2016.
“Probably not,” she said. “Our family can’t sustain this lifestyle. It’s pretty crazy and it’s not sustainable at this point.”
Gramantik, shook his head at the harshness of the moment.
“Sport,” he said, “can be cruel.”
Indeed, at the Olympic trials in Calgary in June, Zelinka suffered an injury to her right foot — her takeoff foot in the jumps. The ailment set back her training and Gramantik wondered if, when it came down to her final of three attempts in the high jump and a steady rain was falling, it also didn’t leave Zelinka doubting her footing.
“The hardest part for us was seeing how it slips away. Just like, ‘God. We’re this close,’” Gramantik said. “Because the rest of the things she’s done well. It’s a very punishing event because one mistake, a couple of mistakes, it’s over. I feel bad for her, knowing she’s probably torturing herself about what hasn’t happened. It’s a missed opportunity. We can’t predict if one will ever come back again.
“I might not have a talent like her for a long time to come — or maybe never.”
For now, Zelinka said she was looking forward to running in the 100 hurdles, which begin Monday, and to seeing Anika.
“I might see her tomorrow or after the hurdles,” Zelinka said. “But I’m really looking forward to seeing her. I know she’s having so much fun right now, so I’m not at all worried or anything. I need her more than she needs me right now, you know?”
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