Although Gyorffy faced little to no competition in the collegiate ranks and in her own nation this past season, she was able to prepare for worlds by competing in several IAAF meets in Europe throughout the summer. Her best place came at the Norwich Great Britain Grand Prix meet, the last IAAF Grand Prix meet before the championships, in which she finished fourth. The placings at that London meet—Cloete in first, Babakova in second and Bergqvist in third—perfectly matched the medals awarded in the World Championships.

Once Gyorffy closes out her final academic semester—which she must complete after leaving Harvard last fall to compete in the Sydney Olympics—she will have the freedom to build experience in the major international meets. When she placed fifth at the IAAF Indoor World Championships at Lisbon in March at a peak height of 1.93 meters, she placed some of the blame on her failure to adapt to an unexpected ramp that interfered with her approach. At Edmonton, the IAAF reported that a strong headwind, which picked up as the bar was raised to 1.94 meters, made the competition difficult for inexperienced jumpers.

During her collegiate eligibility, Gyorffy won the 2000 NCAA indoor high jump title and the 2001 NCAA outdoor high jump title, as well as eight Heptagonal high jump titles and seven Heptagonal triple jump titles. She was the second Harvard athlete to place respectably at the World Championships within the past two weeks. Harvard track co-captain Brenda Taylor ’01 placed sixth in her semifinal heat in the 400-meter hurdles on Aug. 6.