After Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva failed to reach the podium on Tuesday at the World Championships in Athletics, she blamed her excessively light pole for her troubles. It was an unusual excuse for a two-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist.

But she couldn't have been criticized for pointing her finger at the cover of Tuesday's official program. Maybe she should have known she would be doomed the moment her image was printed on the cover.

Over the first four days of the world championships, athletes featured on the cover of the program have suffered ignominious fates. Pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva was the latest cover athlete to fall, as her attempt to return to the top after failing to clear the bar at the previous world championships flopped.

It hasn't been quite like the jinx of Sport Illustrated or even the Madden NFL football video game series, whereby cover athletes have suffered serious injuries. But the fall from grace by top athletes here has been nearly as spectacular.

Steve Hooker, a pole vaulter from Australia, graced the cover of the championships' first program. The reigning Olympic and world champion, Hooker didn't even make it out of the heats on Saturday.

Usain Bolt may own world records in the men's 100 ｍeters and 200 ｍeters, but he wasn't immune from the jinx. He jumped the gun in the 100 meters final Sunday after being featured on the cover.

It was Dayron Robles' turn on Monday in the men's 110-ｍeter

hurdles. The bespectacled Cuban hurdler was in his element on the cover, effortlessly clearing a hurdle, and unlike Bolt, Robles even got to finish his race. But about an hour after coming in first place in the event, Robles was disqualified for obstructing Liu Xiang over the final two hurdles.

Olga Kaniskina of Russia, Wednesday's cover athlete, snapped the streak. She won her third straight world title in women's 20-kilometer race walk.

For all the talk about the curse, local organizers who publish these programs say selecting athletes for the cover isn't exactly rocket science.

"We look at the given day's schedules and pick out well-known athletes or those who have good records," a media operations official of the organizing committee said. "We narrow it down to two, three athletes. Having the right photo is also important to make sure it looks good in color. It's not as though we have some big meeting to discuss candidates, but we do have to make sure our cover athlete is actually in the final." (Yonhap News)