Athens: India's ace long jumper Anju Bobby George produced a dramatic first leap to set a new national record but could not sustain the tempo and finished sixth at the Olympic Games while the women's 4x400m relay team sprung a major surprise qualifying for the finals in Athens yesterday night (Aug 27, 2004).

Anju's hopes of an Olympic medal were dashed as she leaped to a career-best 6.83 but that was not good enough in a strong field, which saw a Russian clean sweep.

The 27-year-old Anju began in spectacular fashion by bettering her own national record of 6.74m in her very first attempt but could not come anywhere near that marks in the subsequent jumps to fall back in the rankings.

"I gave my best shot, but it was not good enough. The competition was very tough and I am a little disappointed with the way things went for me," Anju said.

"It was quite windy out there and there was also some pollution. After the first jump I felt a slight uneasiness and giddiness. My performance just went down after that.

"But I am not blaming any thing. One has to perform in different conditions and these things should not be a distraction," she said.

Russia's world number one Tatyana Lebedeva claimed the coveted gold medal with a leap of 7.07m while her 22-year-old compatriot world no. 3 Irina Simagina took the silver with 7.05m.

The third Russian and world no. 2 Tatyana Kotova had to be content with the bronze despite clearing 7.05m. Simagina pocketed the silver as she had a better second jump of 7.02m.