Sportswriter covering Sydney WMG leaps to conclusions

I’m Olga Kotelko’s biggest fan. But I don’t exaggerate her credits. No need for that. Not so with Lisa Martin, a sportswriter in Australia who profiled Olga in the Brisbane Times today. Lisa wrote: “At 90-years-old, Canadian Olga Kotelko is the oldest known long jump competitor in the world.” Well, no. My own city, San Diego, has an older long jumper. Remember Leland McPhie, 95, at Oshkosh? (Here’s a video of him jumping.) And Lahti worlds had two 90-plus long jumpers: Ilmari Koppinen of Finland and Efrain Wachs of Argentina, both born in 1918. I wouldn’t call Leland the oldest long jumper. But if I wanted to, I’d at least check around.