They said her career was over 9 years ago. Ivet Lalova – the fastest white woman on the planet, still a girl at 19 – 20 back then. In June 2004, at a competition for the Europe Cup in Plovdiv she astonished everyone with a new national record and best result in the world for the season. “All of a sudden I turned into the girl, who ran the 100 m for 10.77 sec. and I was in the highlight. I had to grow up in a very short period and be careful on what I said and did”, Ivet says on her emotions back then.

One can understand that, as we know that only 5 female athletes had run faster by then. The result however had to be confirmed and that would probably happen, but faith had other plans. At the Olympic Games 2004 in Athens Lalova remained at the 4^th position for the 100 m sprint and 5^th for the 200 m with 11.00 and 22.56 sec respectively. In the meantime she was proclaimed the most beautiful sports girl at the Olympiad by the German Stern magazine. In the winter of 2005 she became a European champion at 200 m in hall in Madrid with 22.91 sec – a new national record. In the beginning of the summer season she won the Ostrava Golden Spike tournament with 11.03 sec., thus placing herself 2^nd in the annual rankings. So, it was all looking fine… until that dark 14 June 2005, when 15 minutes before the start of an Athens-held tournament and in order to avoid a clash with another competitor Lalova stepped aside with a high speed and the result was a severe hip fracture. After 5 serious surgical interventions and a 38-cm-long nail in her thigh-bone, many would see the end of their sports career. However, Ivet was not one of those. The nail was placed among all her awards and medals after it had been taken out, as a symbol of perhaps the toughest victory – of the spirit and will over the body. After two years of recovering procedures Ivet had her return in Belgrade, winning the 100 m sprint for 11.26 sec. It wasn’t a bad start, but was not enough for a good performance at Osaka ’07 and Beijing ’08. Ivet needed 5 years more for her triumph with the gold at the 100 m sprint at the 2012 European Athletics Championships.

Ivet gifted herself in a nice manner for her 30^th birthday on May 18 this year by winning the 100 m sprint in the Italian town of Gavardo with the best time for the season – 11.10 sec. A week later she marked a double victory at 100 m and 200 m for her Turkish club of Enka. At the same time she contributed for the 4^th position at the relay race for the title at the European Athletics in Portugal's VilaReal de Santo Antonio.

“I had a really strong start of the season, just like never before and I needed a start like that. The summer season will be long and I want to keep my best shape for August. I will run the 100 m and 200 m sprints at the European Championships in Zurich. I want medals and great memories from there,” says Ivet Lalova. Her intentions usually respond to the results, if fortune favors – and the latter owes one to Ivet…

In the meantime Ivet finished 4^th yesterday, at the 100 m sprint from the IAFF World Challenge series in the Dutch town of Hengelo with 11.29 sec /on 11.10 sec in Gavardo, Italy/. The next start of the Bulgarian will be a diamond one, as she will participate in Oslo’s 5^th Tournament from the Diamond League for the season on June 11. On June 14 she will compete in Sotteville, France.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev