Inside Athletics #6 August 2008

YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO ATHLETICS IN NSW & BEYOND inside

athletics ISSUE SIX AUGUST 08

NIORS WORLD JU HT IG LOOKS BR E R U T U F E TH

RECOVERY TECHNIQUES PLUS:

4STATE CROSS COUNTRY 4AUSSIES IN THE NCAA 4CROSS COUNTRY RELAYS 4THE LATEST NEWS & GEAR

OLYMPIC PREVIEw

MEET OUR TEAM

OLYMPIC TEST EVENT

THIRD T IME LUC KY FOR ABDI!

inside

athletics

contents44

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Issue 06 august 2008 4 Editorial 5 Performances of the Month 6 Athletics Shorts All the latest news & facts 7 Making Tracks Meet our future stars

PERFORMANCE OF THE MONTH 07

8 Gear to Go Products every athlete should have 9 Focus on Officials Meet one of our great volunteers 10 World Junior Champs Our Aussie juniors put on a show 18 Meet our Olympic Team Get to know our top athletes

MAKING TRACKS 10

28 Olympic Preview We look at the major showdowns 32 Third Time Lucky Abdi achieves his Olympic dream 34 Olympic Test Event EAP Athletes visit Beijing 36 Higher Learning Aussies in the NCAA

WORLD JUNIORS 18

39 NSW Cross Country Relays 41 Nowra X-Country 42 Recovery Techniques Including recovery in your training

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32

RECOVERY TECHNIQUES

third time lucky

MEET THE OLYMPIC TEAM 28

OLYMPIC PREVIEW 03 Inside Athletics

Welcome...

Editor Tim McGrath

production David Byrne

Photography Getty Images, Kerry McGlone, Janet Nixon, Dave Byrne, Tim McGrath, Kel Bradstock (Photos in a Flash)

editorial Tim McGrath, David Tarbotton, Ben Liddy and David Byrne

CONTACT US For any advertising or editorial enquiries please email: insideathletics@nswathletics.org.au

Produced with the assistance of:

The Rusty Cage

*This publication is editorial in nature and does not necessarily represent the views of Athletics NSW

I’m writing this editorial as I sit on my long haul flight home from London after an amazing three weeks of annual leave. Being the ardent athletics fan that I am I couldn’t resist combining some of the action in Europe into my holiday. One of the perks of writing some content for the Athletics Australia website during the time was that I got to see some world class athletics from the best seats in the house: those reserved for the media near the finishing line.

I started out with the world junior championships. As I said to team manager Sara Mulkearns after the meet, it was one of the best things that I’ve ever done linked to the sport. You can read about my experience of being with the team and their exceptional performances in the feature article of this edition.

After a brief sojourn I was able to cover the Meeting Gaz de France (the Paris leg of the IAAF Golden League) and the British Grand Prix at Crystal Palace.

Both are truly exceptional events.

Although our medal hopes in Beijing have been reduced considerably with the withdrawal of Jana Rawlinson and Nathan Deakes through injury, I saw some incredibly promising performances at the two grand prix meets I covered, which gives me hope that we could still come away from the Games will a gold medal.

Steve Hooker has established himself as one of the three top vaulters in the world this year with a classy win in the Gaz de France followed up by a towering clearance of 5.97m in London. For the first time ever, that height wasn’t good enough to win, with Russian Yevgeniy Lukyanenko winning on countback. He and American Brad Walker are Hooker’s main foes in China’s capital.

Likewise, Sally McLellan has entered the upper echelon of sprint hurdling.

Although she’s remaining modest about her Beijing hopes, if she achieves her goal of making the final, anything, and I literally mean anything, could happen from there. I look forward to sitting back in front of the TV and watching Steve, Sally and the rest of the team in action.

For most athletes the Olympic Games remain, as Baron Pierre de Coubertin famously said, not about winning, but taking part. The achievement of the athletes to make the team is not to be taken lightly. It’s something that most of us dream of, but that very few ever get remotely close to, let alone achieve.

While out Olympians have prepared in the warmer climes of Europe our local distance runners have been churning out the miles and competing in the state championship events that form the Skins Winter Premiership.

The races continue to go from strength to strength through the tireless dedication of the clubs who host them. We take a look back in this edition to the events held since the very successful Road Championships at the start of the season.

The next edition will come out some time during September, whenever I’ve had a chance to digest all of the action, triumphs, sorrow and everything else which makes the Olympic Games the greatest sporting competition on the planet.

ERATA As part of our dedication to maintaining the high quality of Inside Athletics we wish to note the following inaccuracies published in the previous edition: In our haste to get the edition out we forgot to remove a place filler on page 14, which related to the size of the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon field. In case you didn’t pick it up from the byline, the X was meant to be replaced by the number 7000 in the final production stages.

Page 33 contained a list of the top 10 winning times at the Novice 10km championships. Second on that list was James Brown’s run of 30:47 in 1991.

Review of the results indicates that the winner of the 1991 Novice championships was Jason Wendt, who won in 32:15. It appears that Brown’s time was in winning the open event on the day. Thank you to David Lewis for bringing this mistake to our attention.

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Page 32 contained a brief mention of NSW athlete’s results from the Sandown 10km race in Melbourne. Athletics Victoria issued a media release three weeks after the race confirming suspicions that many had on the length of the race after an unusually high number of fast times, including sub 30 minute runs by Ben St Lawrence and Tim Rowe and a sub 34 minute run by Lara Tamsett. According to the release this year’s event was 98m short.

Although mistakes such as do this occur, they do put a dampener on the event, which promoted itself as Australia’s best 10km road race, over a fast, accurate course. It also brings into question the course certification system in general.

For what it is worth, the Athletics NSW / Sydney Striders 10km race in May, which incorporated the NSW 10km championships, was over a loop course which measured a total of 10,017 metres.

The extra distance (at least 0.1% of the race distance) is recommended as a safeguard against discrepancies that could occur in the measuring of the course. It is also worth noting that the race at Sydney Olympic Park, over two loops with the start and finish lines at the same point, obviously satisfies the IAAF rules relating to the allowable limit of net downhill, while it is not clear that the Sandown race does, with its starting point higher than its finishing point.

S E T E L H AT S U C O F IN

4x400m women’s 0 2 u aus Tauro and gdom, Olivia in K le el h yc as a very lone, Tr ars of what w st Brittney McG e th e er w mpeted ckburn hletes who co at Angeline Bla 28 f o am , ralian te in Bydgoszcz talented Aust ampionships al ch n r fi io e n th ju e d to mak at the worl ood chance g hen it a w e as n o ed sh at e girls th Poland. R s, ck lo b e ze medal. ok to th eserved bron d before they to l el w a ed collect counted and

05 Inside Athletics

ATHLETICS SHORTS LATE OLYMPIC team ADDITIONS

DECATHLON FUN FOR CAREY

Westfield’s long jumper Fabrice Lapierre has been named in his first Olympic team. The 2006 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist appealed to an Athletics Australia Appeals Tribunal after initially being left out of the team by the selectors. The tribunal were convinced there was merit in adding him to the team, so asked the selectors to reconsider their decision, which they did in favour of adding Lapierre to the team.

Middle distance runner Jeff Riseley has also been added to the team, but in a much more convoluted manner than Lapierre. The complication was that Riseley recorded an A-standard of 3:36.03 in the 1500m after the qualifying period specified in the Athletics Australia and Australian Olympic Committee selection policies had expired.

The important thing in understanding the situation is that AA only nominates athletes for selection; it’s the AOC’s team and they make the final selections. There have been occasions, such as in 1992, where athletes have been nominated by AA but rejected by the AOC. Both the AA and AOC policies contained an unfortunately constructed clause which set the date at which athletes had to be nominated

by AA. The date in the clause, which was apparently included by the AOC to fit in with their administrative timelines rather than any deadline by the IAAF or IOC, contained phraseology relating to the date which AA had to make their nominations as ‘absolute and mandatory.’ It’s not the kind of legal language that leaves much flexibility!

At the end of a cat and mouse game between the two bodies deciding whether AA or the AOC should be the one to take the plunge and say that they wanted Riseley in the team, the Victorian was added to the squad by the AOC and will make his Olympic debut.

Former NSW 100m champion Preya Carey recently became one of the first Australian women to try her hand at the decathlon. Carey, 24, contested the event in Santa Barbara, California and scored a total of 5740 points in winning the competition.

Her marks during the competition were: 100m – 12.48, discus – 32.53m, pole vault – 2.85m, javelin – 23.29m, 400m – 62.28, 100m hurdles – 15.85, long jump – 5.70m, shot put – 10.04m, high jump – 1.51m, 1500m – 6:51.96.

R BEVERIDGE

100 MARATHONS FO

le Beveridge recently North coast’s Steeth lga rathon. The Woolgoo completed his 100 ma at nt achieved the feat Athletics Club Preside ion dit ad In . early June South West Rocks in Beveridge has also es to his century of rac of ultra marathons. completed a number

YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!!!!!

Send in your best tale of triumph, disaster or humour from a marathon for your chance to win free entry into the Sydney Running Festival on 21 September.

The winning entry will be published in the next edition.

Send entries (250 words or less) to insideathletics@ nswathletics.org.au by 25 August.

the Transition Years A legacy of the Sydney Olympics was the introduction of an Australian Youth Olympic Festival. The inaugural event was in 2001 and it has continued to be conducted biennially, with the event again set to be held in Sydney in 2009.

At the inaugural competition 208 Australian track and field athletes competed. They were basically the best six athletes in Australia in their events aged 15 to 17 years.

Seven years on, the athletes are now aged 23 to 25 years and the most talented should have been in the 2006 Commonwealth Games team and currently in the World Championship and Olympic teams.

But a staggering 74% of the athletes have dropped out of the sport. Of the 26% still competing at various levels a tiny number has gone on to represent Australia in a championship (6%).

The statistics are: Competed at World Champs/Olympics 7 athletes Competed at Comm Games/World Uni 6 athletes TOTAL 12 athletes

3% 3% 6%

Senior Development Team US College Competing at National level only Competing at State level only TOTAL

10 athletes 5 athletes 8 athletes 16 athletes 36 athletes

5% 2% 4% 8% 19%

Represented AUS different sport

4 athletes

2%

Dropped out of the Sport

150 athletes

74%

MAKING TRACKS the stars of the future ALICIA KEiR

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Illawong’s Alicia Keir ran a sensational 54.87 seconds for 400m at last year’s Australian All Schools. Since then the 17-year-old has decided that the 800m is where her future lies. Athletics Australia seems to agree as she has been selected in that event for the Commonwealth Youth Games in India in October.

3

VERONICA WALLINGTON Hailing from Canowindra in the central west of NSW, 17-year-old Wallington is a strong performer over cross country and especially mountain running. Wallington, who competes for St George District Athletics Club, won her event at the NSW All Schools Cross Country Championships by a minute and a half.

ZACHARY REA 4 14-year-old Randwick Botany Harriers athlete Zachary Rea has recorded a number of strong performances this season, including a win at the NSW Cross Country Championships at Nowra.

The Sydney Grammar student is a member of the strong training squad coached by Sean Williams.

o G o T ear G

d accesories n a s t c u d o r p t s late The SKINS Compression Skins™ BioAcceleration Technology™ has been developed over years of scientific research. Ongoing testing of elite athletes have proven that Skins™ BioAcceleration Technology™ creates marked improvements in reducing the build-up of lactic acid immediately after periods of sustained exercise (2hrs and 15 mins up to 37% ), and allows for more rapid return to normal levels (up to 38% at 20 minutes). You experience less fatigue, minimise soreness and recover faster. Skins™ is body-moulded compression performance equipment manufactured from the finest Lycra and Meryl Microfibre, scientifically engineered to provide support and muscle alignment to the smart-fabric covered area of your body. Skins™ will definitely change the way that you train and play as well as speed your recovery. You will feel fresher after heavy bouts of exercise and delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) will be minimised.

ADIZERO RINGS RANGE Adidas has unveiled its adiZero Rings range enabling runners to feel part of the upcoming Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Based on the colours of the Olympic Games, the colourful and fun exteriors ooze excitement, enthusiasm and energy and share the same passion the Olympic Games represent; the willingness to accept healthy competition.

Universally known as the adidas lightweight running shoe family, adiZero is equipped with world renowned adidas technologies to satisfy the needs of elite runners. For the adiZero range, the adidas Innovation Team endeavoured to reduce the weight by focusing on the concept of “pure” running shoes, where only materials necessary to optimise performance were used.

“The Olympic Games inspired adiZero range is about showcasing adidas Running’s commitment to building performance products for athletes to achieve their Impossible. The five colours associated with the world’s greatest sporting event are a genuine symbol of passion for sport and integrated here into the adiZero family in an inspirational and exciting way”, said Rasmus Holm, Running Category Manager for adidas Region Asia Pacific.

Sometimes elite competitors have to compromise style for tip-top performance, but through adiZero, adidas has made that choice unnecessary. This adiZero range is now available to runners in all markets.

08 Inside Athletics

SPOTLIGHT

ON OFFICIALS Two Australian officials, Jill Huxley (walks) and Janet Nixon (photo finish) were appointed by the IAAF to officiate at the world junior championships.

Assistant Australian Team Manager Jodi Lambert interviewed both for those in attendance at the team dinner prior to the commencement of the meet. She has kindly given us permission to reproduce what was said.

IA: What got you involved in officiating in athletics?

JH: I had a son who did little athletics for twelve months before joining the senior athletics club. He was a good walker so we also joined the Racewalking Club. So all of our Saturday’s, summer and winter, from about 1972 on were involved in athletics.

Rather than sitting behind the fence I decided to help I got involved and did a bit of timekeeper and track judging.

There weren’t that many walks judges, so they said maybe you should start, and so I did.

grade and then an A grade.

In my day, when I did it, it took 15 years to become a referee. You had to go through all of the process, but now it’s down to 5 years. We used to have to do about 5 years between each exam but now you can do it all in 5 years.

The trouble is that there are few youngsters coming up. We just haven’t got the officials coming up, but I’m still here.

IA: Can you explain how you actually get involved in the international meets?

JH: For the international level you’ve got to be up in the top grade in your country. You find now that in most international meets that they use mainly their own officials. It’s only one or two senior ones, the IAAF people - the international

technical officials - that they have brought in.

It used to be the case that you had to have at least 25% of the officials from overseas, but now they don’t do that because it too expensive, so it’s only a few overseas officials that get appointed to each meet.

As far as the walks judging go, you can’t have more than one judge from each country. Being an international walk judge has been very good to me.

Walks might be the sport that a lot of us don’t like, but it has been very good to me.

IA: What makes you want to come out an officiate at all meets from interclub to international meets no matter what the weather?

JH: I must just be used to it!

What would I do otherwise?

I just really enjoy it and enjoy being part of the team.

IA: Can you take us through the process of becoming an official?

JH: Well you start off being very interested and you get involved in the jumps or throws or track, doing your timekeeping or judging or whatever it may be. Then somebody says that you should start to get more involved in it and you sit a C grade exam. Then that goes on a bit and you sit a B

4Jill Huxley (left) with Oceania team mana at the world junior ch

ampionships.

ger Janelle Eldridge

WORLD JUNIOR

CHAMPIONSHIPS

WHERE STARS

ARE BORN

The world junior championships are the breeding ground for future champions of the sport. Tim McGrath was there in Poland to cover the event for Athletics Australia and shares his experiences I have a number of friends and acquaintances who have been members of Australian teams, ranging from the Olympics and world championships, down to world junior and youth championships. I’ve always been aware that there is a special bond between people who have been on such teams together – something that those who have not achieved such an honour will never fully grasp or understand.

But being involved with the world junior team as the media officer certainly gave me more of an insight into it – the time 10 Inside Athletics

I spent with the team, along with being a volunteer at the Sydney Olympics, are easily the best thing I have done in athletics.

The first thing that struck me was how close knit the team was. They had got to know each other very well in the pre departure period through a number of camps which Athletics Australia conducted, and many had traveled together last year to the world youth championships, as well as having been involved in the national under 19 and under 17 program at various stages

over the past few years.

The second thing that had an impact on me was the great range of personalities within in the team. The athletes ranged from 16 to 19 years of age and their demeanour and level of maturity was as broad as the range of events which they were taking part in. From confident adults who you feel will be successful on whichever path they follow in the future, to awkward or brash teenagers and everything in between, the team had it all.

The venue for the

championships was the city of Bydgoszcz in Poland, located 280km north-west of the capital Warsaw. The team’s trip involved 40 hours of traveling from their departure from the final team camp on the Gold Coast to the arrival in the team hotel, the second nicest in town behind the one that the IAAF dignitaries occupied. One can feel for the anxiousness that the team management must have felt when they learnt that the hotel contained a nightclub and casino within its walls, but from all reports the team was well behaved. After all, they were there for a reason, to compete in for what many of the team was the biggest competition of their lives so far.

They weren’t alone. A record 183 nations took part in the championships on the newly laid blue track of the renovated Zawisza Stadium.

It would be easy to look at the results and notice that Australia only won a single medal where historically one might expect three or four.

However, a closer look at the performances of the 28-strong team reveals their true quality: a twelfth place finish on the IAAF scoring tables ahead of strong athletics nations such as France and China, three Australian junior records, six personal bests, thirteen top-8 performances, and perhaps most importantly, the athletes showing the ability to peak, with two-thirds of the team finishing in a place higher than what they were ranked on the entry lists.

That’s perhaps the biggest lesson that the team came away with from the championships, that what’s on paper coming into the event means little when one toes the starting line. Amongst the casualties of the turbulence of competition was Ukraine’s

world junior record holder in the discus Mykyta Nesterenko, who threw almost 10 metres below his best to only take third, whilst world junior record holder and favourite for the Olympic 800m title, Abubaker Kaki Khamis of Sudan, had to run all the way Getty Images

4Angeline Blackburn ran a strong 400m to finish in 6th. But by far

the highlight of the meet for the Australian team was the third place in the women’s 4x400m.

11 Inside Athletics

Getty Images

4Anyone who wants to know how to peak for a competition should

speak to decathlete Adam Bevis and his coach Annette Rice. Bevis set five personal bests on his way to an Australian junior record of 7442 points and a sixth place finish.

Getty Images

4Kurt Mulcahy lead the final of the 400m coming into the final straight.

He then faded in the closing metres and finished 4th.

12 Inside Athletics

to the line for a hard fought, half a second victory.

To signal out a single performance from the Australian team almost seems blasphemous, yet one cannot go past the bronze medal winning performance of the women’s 4x400m team. Not originally named when the squad was selected in March, the team was thrown together from those on the team – a 400m runner essentially backed up by a 200m runner, 400m hurdler and 800m runner.

It’s perhaps because of the unexpected nature of the finish that it was so sweet. Despite the exceptional effort from the quartet on the track, the medal belonged as much to the whole 28 member team as it did to them; for the team to have left the championships without a medal would have been unjust.

The final unfolded by Brittney McGlone running a stunning 55.3 second out of the blocks, over a second faster than she could muster the day before in the heats. She passed the baton off to Trychelle Kingdom, whose legs were fatigued from three 800m races and the relay heats the day before.

Kingdom, who was seventh in the 800m final, had only stepped onto the track twice in the six weeks leading into the championships due to an injury. She produced a strong 54.2 second leg to pass the baton to Olivia Tauro.

What Tauro did in the first half of her leg will be the enduring memory I have of the championships. I lack the

words to adequately describe the ferocity which she attacked the race – she just flew. I wish I had taken a split at halfway of her leg, because in all likelihood she didn’t run much slower than the 24.12 seconds she had run in the semi-final of the 200m two days prior.

Almost inevitably she slowed over the second half, with the final 50m seeming to take an eternity. She collapsed as she handed the baton to the anchor runner, Angeline Blackburn, with a more than respectable split of 52.8 seconds, but importantly with the team in contention for a medal.

Blackburn was one of the most impressive performers of the meet from the Australian team. A fortnight prior to the championships she hadn’t broken 54 seconds for 400m, yet set a personal best of 52.90s in the semi-final and finished sixth in the final. After those races she described how she just loved being out on the track. So when it came down to the hopes of the team, she was definitely the right person to be guiding it home.

The Jump Start to London 2012 indigenous program athlete ran her leg with experience beyond her years, tailing the

runners from the Ukraine and France before moving onto their shoulder as she entered the final straight. In a strong run to the line she breasted the tape only threehundredths of a second shy of the second placed Ukrainian team, with a phenomenal final leg of 51.8 seconds and a well deserved bronze medal for the Australian team in a time of 3:34.23.

One of the most fascinating events of the meet was the men’s javelin, which was won by Poland’s Robert Szpak. Tasmania’s Hamish Peacock, the silver medalist

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4Not selected in the team when it was first announced, high jumper Zoe Timmers proved that she definitely deserved her spot, leading the qualifying round and finishing fifth in the final with a jump of 1.82m

13 Inside Athletics

from last year’s world youth championships and the youngest athlete to make the final, was cool under pressure.

Entering the final round Peacock was in the bronze medal position thanks to a personal best of 72.81m in the fourth round.

The final round was the stuff that championships are made of. First Jaako Talvitie of Finland bettered Peacock’s throw with 74.47m, then Ansis Bruns of Latvia with an even better 75.31m. Many athletes would lose their composure when being demoted from Getty Images

4Victoria’s Jess Rothwell, one of four team captains, set the team in motion with an outstanding 4th place in the 10000m walk early on the second day of the championships. Rothwell took 90 seconds off her own Australian junior record in the process.

14 Inside Athletics

the medals in the manner that the 17-year-old was. Peacock didn’t. He charged down the runway and let rip a huge throw – unfortunately not enough to move him into the medals – but nonetheless a personal best of 74.44m. There is little more that any athlete can do when asked of them.

Likewise, the performance of Bridey Delaney should not go without mention. If you had asked any of the pundits in the lead up to the championships where she would finish, none would have said fifth. The St George athlete did almost everything perfectly during her races; she kept out of trouble in a slow paced heat but had enough conditioning and mental fortitude to run home in a personal best of 4:20.82. In the final, despite trying to stay out of trouble, was knocked around in a slow, rough race, yet came home in a time just outside her personal best and in a magnificent fifth place.

The two athletes in the team who had tasted senior international competition, Kurt Mulcahy and Vicky Parnov, came away with fourth and fifth places respectively.

Mulcahy, who relocated from the north coast of NSW late last year to take up a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport, entered the straight at the same time as four other athletes in the final of the men’s 400m. The first three were simply too good on the day, with Mulcahy crossing the line in 46.54 seconds.

Parnov, who was billed as

Australia’s best hope of an individual medal leading into the championships, was visibly disappointed when she was knocked out of the pole vault with a best jump of 4.20m. To many, such a disappointment would be unbearable, yet the 17-year-old Western Australian was back at the warm-up track the next day training, and a week later would clear 4.30m at a meet in Luzern, Switzerland.

Easily the most ecstatic athlete I spoke to in the mixed zone following their event was Ryan Gregson. The Kembla Joggers’ athlete ran a shrewd tactical race to hit the lead at the bell of the 1500m and ran a swift, sub 53 second last lap to finish within half a second of the medals. On the final day of competition he set a personal best and NSW under 20 record in the 5000m, finishing 13th in 14:01.66.

In writing this piece I feel that I could go on and on. Perhaps the best way to finish it is to highlight that often it’s not the destination, but the journey which is important. More so than any athlete in the team, I can’t think of a better case that of half-miler James Kaan.

A look at his overall result – 8th in the final in 1:52.41 – seems unremarkable given that he has run 1:47. Yet to see him make that final was dramatic and inspiring. A solid, automatic qualifying performance in the first round was followed up by a sensational semi-final, where he knocked off a 1:45 runner, but finished third and outside

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4Triple jumper Henry Frayne has great athletics genes – his uncle

Bruce was a member of the Australian record setting 4x400m relay team, whilst his father Geoff won national medals in the long jump in the late 70’s. In Bydgoszcz Frayne leapt over 16 metres for the first time, jumping a new Australian junior record of 16.40m in qualifying before finishing 5th in the final with 16.29m.

of the all important top two automatic qualifying positions.

An anxious wait was followed by news that had the entire team rejoicing, that he had got through to the final as one of the next fastest finishers.

The IAAF touted the world juniors as the stepping stone to elite open competition.

Given the performance of the Australian team, we have a number of athletes who can develop into future stars.

15 Inside Athletics

EVENTS IR E H T R E T Y SAID AF WHAT THE Melissa Breen 0m i-final of the 10 3rd in her sem I . ppy right now “I’m really ha ssed g, I wasn’t stre enjoyed runnin or nervous.”

Kur t Mulcahy 4th in the 400m ably went st shot. I prob be y m it ve “I ga ed to if I rd, but I need ha o to t bi a t ou al.” a shot at a med wanted to have

l Jess Rothwel 0m walk in an 4th in the 1000 or record of Australian juni 44:44.22 I’ll be wor king “Next season an A-qualifier towards doing to ould be great for Ber lin. It w girls r e of the olde challenge som e team.” for a spot in th Henry Frayne .40m or record of 16 Australian juni e triple jump. and fifth in th h that? t be happy wit “How can I no th is last year to fif From nothing amazing.”

Adam Bevis th place or record, 6 ni ju n ia al tr Aus al bests in the and five person decathlon. is I’d compete th “I didn’t think .” t dumbfounded well. I’m almos k Hamish Peacoc lin 5th in the jave ne! It’s slightly “That was insa medal, not to get the g in nt oi pp sa di any so you can’t do but I did a PB at.” better than th Ryan Gregson m 5th in the 1500 st thing I’ve “It’s the greate t goal when I go ever done. My to make the here was just final.” to Poland, the “I think second has got the Australian team ” most suppor t.

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James Kaan 8th in the 800m find out if ous waiting to rv ne e or m as “I w in the race. I al than I was I was in the fin aking.” was literally sh ns Sara Mulkear manager am Australian te ds have e team. The ki th of d ou pr “I’m very am staff rd with the te ha ly al re d ke n wor things that ca ed up a lot of .” ce and have pick r perfor man erence in thei make the diff

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TEAM MANAGERS Just as with the saying ‘behind every great man, there is a great woman’, behind the success of any team is a great support staff. They deserve a lot more space than a mere mention, yet they probably don’t want it – their role isn’t about individual accolades, it is simply to assist the athletes to perform at their best. A look at the results shows they did a brilliant job.

Two people who certainly deserve more of a mention were the team’s liaison officers. Locals of Bydgoszcz, Raph and Magda, went far beyond the call of their duty to help the team with everything ranging from the correct bus or tram to catch to the track, where and what was available to eat and drink, to assistance with the intricacies of the Polish language.

4Raph and Magda were a huge help in Po

land.

AUSTRALIAN RESULTS AT THE 12th IAAF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS Women’s 4x400m relay Jess Rothwell V 10000m walk Kurt Mulcahy A (N) 400m Henry Frayne V Triple jump Bridey Delaney N 1500m Hamish Peacock T Javelin Zoe Timmers W High jump Vicky Parnov W Pole vault Ryan Gregson N 1500m

5000m Adam Bevis Q Decathlon Angeline Blackburn A 400m Trychelle Kindgom N 800m James Kaan N 800m Emanuele Fumatu N Shot put Melissa Breen A 100m Kimberley Mulhall V Discus Shot put Brittney McGlone A 400m hurdles Robert Falchi N Triple Jump Andrew Welch Q Discus Olivia Tauro N 200m Kate Shierlaw S Javelin Andrew Peska S Discus Larissa Perry W Long jump Rachel Birtles W Pole vault Men’s 4x400m relay Lomana Fagatuai N Shot put Discus Chloe Tighe N 1500m Sianne Toemoe N 800m Melissa Hayes N 10000m Walk Women’s 4x100m relay

3rd 4th 4th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 13th 6th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 13th 18th 14th 14th 15th 17th 17th 17th 17th =19th 22nd 23rd 29th 24th 25th 25th DQ

3:34.23 44:44.22 46.54 16.29m (0.8) 4:21.20 74.44m PB 1.82m 4.20m 3:48.23 14:01.66 7443 points 53.43 2:06.84 1:52.41 19.11m 11.70 (0.0) 48.32m 14.71m 60.05 15.51m (-0.1) 52.88m 24.12 (-1.9) 47.98m 52.29m 5.87m (0.9) 3.65m 3:13.84 14.03m 43.90m 4:30.19 2:09.48 50:38.55

Aus U20 rec 2nd sf 46.56 Q, 1st h 47.35 Q 1st qual 16.40m (0.0) Q Aus U20 rec 3rd h 4:20.82 Q PB 2nd qual 71.05m q 1st qual 1.81m q =1 qual 4.00m q 3rd h 3:46.82 Q NSW U20 rec Aus U20 rec 2nd sf 52.90 PB, 1st h 53.82 2nd sf 2:05.66 Q, 2nd h 2:07.77 Q 3rd sf 1:49.25 q, 3rd h 1:50.28 Q 2nd qual 19.28m q 3 sf, 2nd h 11.66 (-0.8) Q 6th qual 10th qual 7th sf, 5th h 59.39 q 8th qual 8th qual 4 sf, 2nd h 24.09 (-1.5) Q 8th qual 9th qual 11th qual =9th qual 7th h 12th qual 15th qual 10th h 7th h

17 Inside Athletics

W E I V E R P C I P OLYM

M A E T IE S S U A E H T T E ME All pics by

Stephen Hooker Pole vault – 6.00m 26 years old Olympic Games: ’04 28th World Champs: th ’07 9th, ’05 17 Commonwealth: ’06 1st

es

Getty Imag

WA

Donna MacFarlane TAS 3000m steeple – 9:18.35 Austral ian record 31 years old Olympic debut World Champs: ’07 DNF Commonwealth: ’06 3rd

18 Inside Athletics

WA John Steffensen 400m 4x d an 400m – 44.73 ld o s 25 year Olympics: nd 2 ’04 (4x400m) ps: ham th World C th 00m) 9 th , ’05 8 , ’03 (4x4 9 7 ’0 : Commonwealthst st , (4x400m) 1 ’06 1

Sally McLellan QLD 100m hurdles – 12.53 Australian record 21 years old Olympic debut World Champs: ’07 10th, (100m) 16th, (4x100m) 14th Commonwealth: ’06 8th, (100m) 7th, (4x100m) 3rd

Madeleine Pape VIC 800m – 1:59.92 24 years old International debut

Clinton Hill NSW 4x400m (400m PB 45.06) 28 years old Olympics: ’04 2nd, (400m) 25th World Champs: ’03 9th, (400m) 16th Commonwealth: ’06 1st, (400m) 14th, ’02 5th, (400m) 8th

Kylie Wheeler WA Heptathlon – 6298 points 28 years old Olympics: ’04 18th World Cham ps: ’07 12th, ’05 15th Commonwealth : ’06 2nd, ’02 2nd , (4x400m hea t) 1st

SW Luke Adams N :15 19 1: – 20km Walk 31 years old Olympics: th ’04 16 ps: World Cham th ’03 5th ’07 7th, ’05 10 , : Commonwealth th ’02 2nd ’06 18 ,

Sarah Jamieson VIC 1500m – 4:00.93 Australian rec ord 33 years old Olympics: ’04 30th, ’00 30th World Champs: ’07 19th Commonwealth: ’06 2nd, (5000m) 5th, ’02 5th

20 Inside Athletics

Tamsyn Lewis VIC 400m – 51.44 and 800m – 1:59.21 30 years old Olympics: ’04 (800m) 20th, ’00 (800m) 9th, (4x400m) 5th World Champs: ’07 (800m) 28th, ’03 (800m) 24th, (4x400m) 20th, ’01 (800m) 15th, ’99 (800m) 28th, (4x400m) 6th Commonwealth: ’06 (400m) 13th, (4x400m) 1st, ’02 (800m) 5th, (4x400m) 1st, ’98 (800m) 6th, (4x 400m) 1st

Scott Martin VIC Shot put – 21.26m Australian record 25 years old Olympic debut World Champs: ’07 14th Commonwealth: st ’06 3rd, (Discus) 1

Lisa Corrigan ACT 1500m – 4:05.25 Australian mile record holder (4:22.66) Olympic debut World Champs: ’07 17th Commonwealth: ’06 12th

Lee Troop VIC Marathon – 2:09:49 35 years old Olympics: ’04 28th, ’00 66th World Champs: ’03 17th, ’99 (5000m) 20th Commonwealth: ’02 7th, ’98 (10000m) 7th, (5000m) 6th

Paul Burgess WA Pole vault – 6.00m 28 years old Olympics: ’04 11th, ’00 16th World Champs: ’07 21st Commonwealth: ’06 NH, ’02 2nd, ’98 2nd

Justin Anlezark QLD Shot put – 20.96m 30 years old Olympics: ’04 7th, ’00 29th World Champs: ’03 4th, ’01 27th Commonwealth: ’02 1st, ’98 7th

Craig Mottram VIC ord 5000m – 12:55.76 Australian rec 28 years old Olympic Games: th ’00 17th, ’04 8 World Champs: nd rd ’07 13th, ’05 3 , ’01 (1500m) 22 Commonwealth: th th ’06 2nd, (1500m) 9 , ’02 6

Dani Samuels NSW Discus – 62.95m 20 years old Olympic debut World Champs: ’07 13th Commonwealth: ’06 3rd, (Shot put) 12th

21 Inside Athletics

Lachlan Renshaw NSW 800m – 1:45.79 21 years old International debut

Benita Johnson VIC record Marathon – 2:22:36 Australian 29 years old Olympics: th th ’04 (10000m) 24 , ’00 (5000m) 17 World Champs: th 19th, ’03 ’07 (10000m) 17 , ’05 (10000thm) th (10000m) 8 , ’01 (5000m) 12 Commonwealth: th th , ’06 (10000m) 4 , ’02 (5000m) 6 (1500m) 15

th

Mitchell Kealey QLD 1500m – 3:36.21 24 years old International debut

Jarrod Bannister QLD Javelin – 89.02m Australian record 23 years old Olympic debut World Champs: ’07 22nd Commonwealth: ’06 6th

Youcef Abdi NSW 3000m steeplechase – 8:18.34 30 years old Olympic debut World Champs: ’07 36th, ’03 (1500m) 13th Commonwealth: ’06 11th, ’02 (1500m) 3rd

Joel Milburn NSW 400m – 44.99 and 4x400m 22 years old International debut

Jared Tallent VIC 20km Walk – 1:19:41 and 50km Walk 23 years old Olympic debut World Champs: ’07 DQ, ’05 18th Commonwealth: ’06 3rd

Dylan Grant QLD 4x400m (400m PB 45.69) 20 years old World Champs: ’07 9th

Collis Birmingham VIC 5000m – 13:21.12 23 years old International debut

Alana Boyd QLD Pole vault – 4:55m 24 years old Olympic debut World Champs: ’07 28th

Sean Wroe VIC 400m – 45.20 and 4x400m 23 years old Olympic debut World Champs: th ’07 14th, (4x400m) 9 Commonwealth: st ’06 21st, (4x400m) 1

Jeff Riseley VIC 1500m – 3:36.03 21 years old World Champs: ’07 (800) 40th

Jane Saville NSW 20km Walk – 1:27:44 Australian record 33 years old Olympics: ’04 3rd, ’00 DQ, ’96 26th World Champs: ’07 DQ, ’05 20th, ’03 11th, ’01 DQ, ’99 7th Commonwealth: ’06 1st, ’02 1st, ’98 1st, ’94 (10km Walk) 8th

Lisa-Jane Weightman VIC Marathon – 2:32:22 29 years old International debut

24 Inside Athletics

Chris Erickson VIC 20km Walk – 1:22:55 26 years old World Champs: ’07 (50km walk) 24th Commonwealth: ’06 (50km walk) 3rd

Victoria Mitchell VIC 3000m steeplechase – 9:30.84 26 years old Olympic debut World Champs: ’07 35th Commonwealth: ’06 4th

Kate Smyth VIC Marathon – 2:28:51 35 years old Olympic debut Commonwealth: ’06 7th

Kellie Wapshott VIC 20km Walk – 1:32:57 27 years old International debut

Fabrice Lapierre NSW Long jump – 8.19m 24 years old Olympic debut Commonwealth: ’06 3rd

Bronwyn Thompson QLD Long jump – 7.00m Australian record 30 years old Olympic Games: ’04 4th, ’00 16th World Champs: ’07 21st, ’03 7th Commonwealth: ’06 1st, ’02 6th

25 Inside Athletics

Benn Harradine VIC Discus – 66.37m Australian record 25 years old Olympic debut Commonwealth: ’06 8th

Adam Rutter NSW 50km Walk – 3:44:45 21 years old International debut

Mark Ormrod SA 4x400m (400m PB 45.62) 25 years old Olympic Games: ’04 2nd World Champs: ’07 9th, ’03 9th Commonwealth: ’06 1st

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The

most exciting clashes in beijing All pics by Getty Images

Men’s 110m Hurdles Liu Xiang v Daron Robles This is the event of the Games.

Remember the pressure and expectations on Cathy Freeman in Sydney? Multiply that fiftythousand fold and you’ll get an idea of the weight of expectation on the shoulders of Liu Xiang. With the population in China an estimated 1.3 billion people, never before in the course of human history have so many had so much riding on one person in a sporting event.

Xiang spectacularly won in Athens, equaling Colin Jackson’s world record of 12.91 seconds. Two years later he took the record in his own right with a run of 12.88 seconds. A brilliant technician, at the beginning of the year it seemed that he was destined for glory at his home Games.

Then came a hamstring injury which has restricted him to two major races this season and Daron Robles. The young, bespectacled Cuban, who in contrast to Xiang’s strict discipline over the barriers seems to be far more relaxed, broke the world record with a run of 12.87 seconds in Ostrava and has broken thirteen seconds on three other occasions this season. Throw into the mix American David Oliver, who has run 12.95 seconds this year, and you’ve got one hell of a race.

28 Inside Athletics

WHAT THE EXPERT SAYS Justin Merlino – 2007 & 2008 Australian 110m hurdles champion It is hard to say who will win in Beijing, especially because of the hamstring problems Liu Xiang has been having recently and the lack of race practice.

If I had to put money on it, I would favour Xiang because: 1. It is in his home country; 2. He is more experienced than Robles; and 3. I have not seen anyone race better under pressure than Xiang.

Men’s 100m Usain Bolt v Asafa Powell v Tyson Gay Bolt, Powell, Gay. World record holder against former world record holder against world champion. 9.72 v 9.74 v 9.77. Need I say more? Well, I will.

Bolt is a prodigious talent, who broke 20 seconds over 200m as a junior. His tall smooth running style makes him perfectly suited for that distance, but that hasn’t stopped him become the fastest man of all time over the shorter sprint with a sensational run in New York early in the season.

Powell has equaled or broken the world record on four occasions in the previous three years, but has never produced the goods in a global 100m final. Can he survive the pressure this time?

Head to head Bolt and Powell are one a piece this year. Not surprisingly, Bolt took out the more important encounter: the Jamaican championships.

Gay was impressive in winning the US Olympic Trials in a wind-assisted 9.68 seconds (the fastest every run under any conditions) after having set the US record of 9.77 in the quarter final. He then injured himself in the 200m later in the meet and hasn’t raced since, leaving a big question mark on his fitness.

WHAT THE EXPERT SAYS Maurice Greene – 2000 Olympic 100m champion, former world record holder and most sub-10 second runs ever.

We have to really see what form Tyson Gay will be in after his injury at the trials. If he is healthy enough I think he can give Usain a very good race. It’s going to be very exciting.

The thing with Asafa is that he has to overcome the pressures of the final that he has never been able to overcome yet. If he is able to overcome that, it is really going to be an exciting race!

Usain Bolt has put himself in such a category that he is the most likely to be the dominant person and everyone else needs to challenge him. To run 9.72 - he has put himself in the category that has catapulted him to a position where he has a big bullseye on him.

Men’s Pole Vault

Brad Walker v Yevgeniy Lukyanenko v Steve Hooker In the most unpredictable discipline in athletics, one thing is almost certain: the winner will come from one of the three men listed above. They have been the standout performers this season; all have cleared six metres, with the next best athlete at 5.83m.

Which one will stand atop the podium is the harder thing to predict. Walker jumped 6.04m in winning the US title. Lukyanenko won with 6.01m at a fairly small meet in Poland at the beginning of July, but importantly won the only clash outdoors this season which involved all three athletes, the London Grand Prix.

Never before had a height of 5.97m failed to win a competition, so Steve Hooker entered the history books when he cleared that height but was second on countback in London. It was the second highest jump of his career and the Western Australian says he has room to improve.

The only prediction I’m willing to make on this one is, as long as the conditions are good, that the winner will clear over six metres.

29 Inside Athletics

Women’s 100m hurdles

Anyone who makes the final can win, including Sally McLellan Imagine being a 21 year old competing at their first Olympic Games. Imagine not just being a chance at making the final, but being a medal chance and knowing that if everything goes perfectly that you could potentially win gold.

Exciting, but daunting stuff. If anybody can cope with that scenario it is Sally McLellan; it’s exactly the situation she finds herself in.

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Sally over the previous two seasons and haven’t heard a description of her better than that supplied by Athletics Australia CEO Danny Corcoran: a cold eyed killer.

Don’t get me wrong, Sally is one of the warmest and nicest people you could ever meet off the track. But on it she transforms into something different: somebody who unrelentingly strives for excellence and offers no excuse if she doesn’t achieve what she sets out to.

Despite lowering her own Australian record twice so far this season to a swift 12.53 seconds, the Queenslander is maintaining her original goal of qualifying for the final.

If she gets there she will most likely face Lolo Jones, who has the fastest time in the world this year at 12.45 seconds and who also clocked a wind-assisted 12.29 seconds at the US Olympic Trials. Only a tenth of a second separates the top eight in the world this year – anything could happen in the final.

30 Inside Athletics

Women’s 200m

Alyson Felix v Veronica Campbell-Brown Felix, the two-time world champion in the event, is renowned for her smooth, flowing style around the bend and possesses the strength of a 400m runner down the home straight. The 22 year old has a swift PB of 21.81, but other than a heavily wind assisted (5.6 m/s) run of 21.82 seconds in winning the US Trials, hasnít approached that kind of form and enters the Games with only the fifth fastest time in the world this year (22.22).

Veronica Campbell-Brown enters as favourite with the two fastest times in the world this year: 21.94 and 21.98 seconds. She is in good form, having recently ran a near personal best of 10.87 seconds over 100m in London at a meet where Felix struggled to finish fourth over 200m in a sluggish 23.00 seconds.

Women’s 5000m

Tirunesh Dibaba v Meseret Defar The fastest two athletes in history over the distance, both from Ethiopia, might line up against each other in a fascinating showdown. Tirunesh Dibaba slashed five seconds off Meseret Defar’s world record in June this year with a run of 14:11.15 and Defar went within two seconds of reclaiming it at the end of July. Dibaba is the favourite for the 10000m, which is earlier in the program, and will double in the 5000m if she feels no after effects of that race.

Defar is the reigning Olympic champion, but Dibaba has taken out both world championships since. Both have a lightning fast kick and are able to run under sixty seconds off a good pace. If it happens, it will be an exciting race!

Men’s 4x100m Jamaica v USA

The general rule in this event throughout Olympic history is that when the USA team can hold the baton, they win. The rule might not apply this year.

Jamaica will field a strong quartet likely to consist of Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and two of the following three athletes: 10.00 runners Michael Frater and Dwight Thomas, or 200m runner Marvin Anderson (20.06 PB). They could pose a serious threat, not only to the United States, but to the world record of 37.40 seconds if they can move the baton around the track semi-efficiently.

Getty Images

4Abdi made a gutsy move to step-up from 1500m to steeplchase.

That in itself may not seem any more spectacular than any of the other 28 Australian track and field athletes making their debut in Beijing. Yet, Abdi’s story is a bit different.

A native of Algeria, the 30-year-old started his international career in 1996 at the world junior championships in Sydney, where he had expected to run the 1500m but was entered into the 800m instead.

A lot of people in the athletics community know that part of the story, and how Abdi fell in love with Australia through gazing out of his hotel room at Darling Harbour. What many don’t appreciate is the lengths that Abdi went through to return to the country after the championships.

Algeria in the 1980s was ruled by a totalitarian regime, so when the opportunity arose for Abdi to attend high school during his teenage years in Paris, like many north Africans, he jumped at the chance.

However, after completing his 32 Inside Athletics 28 Inside Athletics

schooling Abdi was required to complete a year of military service. Anyone who has ever met the man knows that he is definitely more of a lover than a fighter – the idea of training how to kill rather than run fast was something that did not sit well with him.

So Abdi decided to ignore his military service and started his journey to Australia to become an athlete. At the time, to do so meant it was virtually impossible for him to return to the country and see his family.

Abdi received his Australian citizenship early in 2000, and at 22-years-of-age dreamed of representing his adopted country later that year at the Sydney Olympics.

When you ask most people what they remember of the Australian representation in the 1500m at the Sydney Games, some will remember South Australian Nick Howarth getting knocked out of the first round of the race after running a mediocre 3:45. Others will remember the near boxing match that

THIRD TIME LUCKY

When Youcef Abdi steps on the track on 16 August it will be the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition: to be an Olympian

Howarth got into with a young Craig Mottram at the Olympic trials a month before, where Howarth was disqualified and Mottram fell flat on his face just short of the finishing line.

What most don’t remember is that after all of the pushing, shoving, protests and name calling, that Abdi won that trial race. And when the Olympic selectors decided to declare that race void as the selection trial and to reschedule it for a week later in Adelaide, that Abdi won that one as well.

Alas, without a B-qualifier to his name the wins meant little, and Abdi was not selected.

Two years later Abdi became the first Australian to win a global medal over 1500m for forty years when he took the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. A NSW record of 3:36.35 just after that race and equaling that time the next year and representing Australia the at the world championships in Paris made it look like 2004 and Athens was going to be Abdi’s prime

opportunity to make an Olympic team.

For Athens the Olympic A-standard was 3:36.20 – about a metre faster than Abdi had run. An agonizingly small amount. Despite winning the most exciting national 1500m final of the past decade, where numerous athletes took the lead and forced a fast pace, that, along with his PB and a later run of 3:37.28 in Europe were not enough to convince the selectors to include him in the team. Abdi was shattered.

It was after that let down that Abdi decided to switch events.

The natural progression for middle distance runners is to move up in distance as they get older, and whilst Abdi did, his choice of events, the steeplechase, was not one that is characteristically made.

It is a tough event, on the mind and the body. Australian record holder Shaun Creighton had to end his promising career at the event and move to longer distances on the flat precisely because of the strain that training for and racing the event places on the body.

Two things were immediately obvious in the first few attempts Abdi had at the event.

Firstly, he lacked technique over the barriers. Secondly, but more importantly, he was able to maintain his strong, fluid stride even as he tired in the later stages of races.

His technique has improved steadily through work with his coach Lindsay Watson, yet has literally been his stumbling block at some very inopportune times; at the 2006

Melbourne A-series, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2007 Australian championships and 2007 world championships Abdi suffered falls over the barriers that put him out of contention in those races. It’s perhaps one of the reasons why the selectors didn’t immediately name him in the Olympic team following the national championships, where he finished second.

The other reason is that Abdi wasn’t in great form come the nationals, something he could hardly have avoided.

He decided to travel to the mecca of distance running, the Rift Valley of Kenya, to train during December and January. It wasn’t the place to be amongst the usually kind spirited Africans when ethnic warfare broke out following disputed election results.

Abdi witnessed sights that are unimaginable in the west, and fearing for his welfare his training was severely curtailed before he was able to flee the country.

Getty Images

4The Commonwealth Games

bronze in the 1500m was Abdi’s first medal in the green and gold.

He already had recorded three A-qualifiers in the lead up to the world championships in Osaka, including a run of 8:18.34, the second fastest ever by an Australian. A promising race in Rennes, France and then another A-qualifier in Prague was enough to convince the selectors that finally Abdi was worthy of the status of being an Olympian.

If he has taken one thing out of the experience, it’s that good things come to those who wait.

Getty Images

4Abdi ran well in the Sydney Olympic ye he narrowly missed

ar but without a quali fier selection behind Nick Howarth (444).

EAP Development Tour

Beijing Olympic Test Event

Words and images by David Tarbotton.

All sport, including athletics, is dominated by outstanding teenage athletes but unfortunately very few continue into their 20s. The dropout rate across the transition years of 18-23 is a problem in Australian sport.

Addressing this, the ANSW/ NSWIS Emerging Athlete Program embarked upon an inspiring opportunity for a group of 24 NSW athletes,

4James Nipperess competing

in the hotly contested 5000m

34 Inside Athletics

organising a self funded tour to the Beijing Open, the Beijing Olympic Games Track and Field Test Event in May 2008.

Selected immediately after the Australian U20 and U23 championships, athletes needed to add two months to their season.

Considering this challenge the performances were credible.

The tour provided an exciting opportunity for the young athletes and an insight into future teams travel and international competition.

The team included a mixture of athletes of varying experience, from soon to be Olympians Dani Samuels to EAP members.

The leading performances were produced by Dani Samuels who gained valuable experience of the stadium where she will compete in August. Along with her third place in the

discus, the men’s open and under-20 4x100m relays teams recorded creditable times of 40.55 and 41.38 respectively.

Individually Robert Marks, a leading teenage Australian sprinter who competed at the 2002 World Schools Games, was outstanding. Robert, now 22, progressed to the 100m quarter final and 200m semis and recorded personal bests along the way.

4Dani Samuels in the local fashion.

Here’s what the athletes had to say

Robert Marks sprinter Experience of competing in the bird’s nest?

“Absolutely amazing, coming out of the call room and stepping onto the track for the first time was truly a great feeling. Standing behind your blocks looking around at the stadium - you feel almost insignificant in such a gigantic stadium.

Favourite part of the tour?

Hands down the experience of competing in the Olympic stadium against quality athletes. Also the experience that came with the trip was priceless.

Did it enhance your drive to one day go to an Olympics?

Definitely. 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2012 Olympics. The test event really has inspired me and made me realise the potential I have. I will definitely be trying to make an Australian team in the near future.

Bridie Gogggins heptathlete Experience of competing in the bird’s nest?

It was amazing; the atmosphere and everything about it, the buzz, the excitement and just the hugeness of the stadium made it really uplifting and encouraging to compete there.

Favourite part of the tour?

Many favourite parts… basically the whole trip. The opportunity to compete in the stadium, the support given to us and the friendships made with both staff and fellow athletes. Of course the shopping! Just being in an Olympic city to compete and being treated like royalty! I loved every minute of it!

Frankie Iorfino sprinter Favourite part of tour?

The best part of the tour was without a doubt competiting in front of such massive crowds.

I remember being on the track at night just before Liu Xiang’s 110m hurdles - the crowd was massive - that was fantastic.

How the tour compared to other competitions/events?

The professionalism of the meet and the crowd and the arena made this event so much more exciting and exhilarating.

Experience of competing in Beijing in general?

The sheer size of crowds and stadiums made the event so surreal. However

the pollution was a bit of a downer.

How do you think the Olympians will feel competing in August ?

They will be blown away at how amazing the facilities are and the hospitality at the warm up track and around the arena.

You get spoilt with whatever you need.

The day I raced

Liu Xiang Justin Merlino Australian champion hurdler It was an amazing experience racing someone of that calibre.

He is someone that I have always idolised. He is a great technician and I often try to replicate his technique in training and during races. It was great being able to line up in the lane next to him, especially because it was in his home country and there were 60,000 screaming fans in the stadium just to watch him run, so I got a feeling of what it would be like to run at the Olympic Games.

4The Beijing event proved to be a great tea

m-building experienc

e.

NCAA HIGHER LEARNING AUSSIES IN THE NCAA

The US collegiate system provides an exceptional transition pathway between school athletics and elite competition. It is often touted as the reason for the United States’ success in track and field. The pinnacle of the season is the Shawn Forrest VIC David McNeill VIC Zoe Buckman ACT Rebecca Lowe NSW Megan Wheatley TAS Paul Peulich VIC Elliot Wood NSW Zoe Pelbart NSW

Arkansas Northern Arizona Oregon Florida Nebraska Manhattan Flordia State Michigan State

IA CHATS with Rebecca Lowe Distance runner Rebecca Lowe has just completed her first year at the University of Flordia, where she has an athletic scholarship. The 19year-old was a very good, but not outstanding, runner as a junior in Australia, but her running has jumped to a new level in the US, where she recently finished fifth in the NCAA championships, running under 16 minutes for 5000m for the first time. The performance is the second fastest by an Australian this calendar year.

We caught up with Rebecca just after she arrived home from the United States after the NCAA championships.

Inside Athletics: Why did you decide to go to college in the US?

Rebecca Lowe: Well, originally I was just planning to go to Sydney Uni but towards the end of Year 12 I started getting some phone calls from 36 Inside Athletics

NCAA championships, which were this year held in Des Moines, Iowa.

Each year a number of Australians take up scholarships at US colleges. The following were in action at the 2008 NCAA Championships:

10000m 5000m 800m 5000m Heptathlon Hammer 400m H Javelin

2nd 4th 4th 5th 9th 10th 13th 19th

28:47:08 13:42.17 2:04.69 (2:03.64 in semi) 15:50.73 5596 points 65.00m 51.09 (51.03 in heat) 47.61m

US colleges and so I started to consider it. I must stay it was all a bit random but I just didn’t want to say no straight away as I didn’t really know what it was all about.

So I started to think a little more seriously about it and it sounded like a pretty good opportunity which I didn’t really want to pass up... I knew if I didn’t like it I could come straight home so I thought, why not.

4Zoe Buckman just missed a medal in the NCAA 800m.

IA: What made you choose Florida?

RL: I went on a recruiting trip for two weeks to America spending about two days at each college. After visiting the 5 schools it came down to a decision between Florida and Northern Arizona. After a bit of research I decided on Florida as Northern Arizona was going to be a too much of a change for me as it was in a very small town in the mountains where it snows in various parts the year.

IA: What was it like settling in?

RL: I myself was surprised how quickly I actually settled in being so far away from home. I’ve always been pretty independent but going half way across the world is a little different. I had three roommates which were are all freshman distance runners so I guess that made it pretty easy to settle in as we were all doing the same thing and for breaks I would just go back to their houses.

Racing wise it probably took longer than I actually thought as I didn’t have a great cross country season. This is probably due to a different training environment and I felt that every cross country race I did was a totally new experience. Nationals had over 250 competitors and unlike Australian cross country races there is a strong emphasis on the team rather than your individual result.

IA: What differences have you noticed in the way the sport is conducted in the US (especially regarding the college system)?

RL: Sport in the American college system is very, very popular. Just like athletics in Australia, their athletics is not as popular as other sports but it still had at least 10,000 people in attendance at each session of the four day NCAA competition. It is also overwhelming how much money is poured into the sports over there; there are many people on full scholarships which include tuition, rent, food, competition flights/fees, shoes, uniforms.

At my college football is extremely popular with all our season matches sold out, where the stadium has a seating capacity of over 100,000.

Also, sport in the US is very competitive. For example, the NCAA women’s 5km was won in 15.15 and the 1500m in 4.06.

These are very respectable times that would probably place you on an Olympic Team.

IA: Do you think you would be running as well as you are now if you had stayed in Australia?

RL: To be honest, I don’t really know. I had a great coach in Sydney, Sean Williams and when I come back I still train with his squad. I probably started running competitively about three years ago and I was always improving each year. This year has been a big breakthrough year for me which has probably come about with a little more focus on just athletics. During school I was playing various other sports like tennis, basketball, netball and touch football whilst also trying to complete my HSC. The environment at the college in the US is something which I’ve really enjoyed and has made me love running even more! My training program is fairly similar to what I was doing here, except I now will jog two mornings a week, so I guess my volume increased slightly, but that also just came about with getting older.

In my races in the US I have also learnt allot about running tactical races as many of the races are about your place rather than your time, so I think I have become a lot more smarter race wise.

Also in winning these races I gained a lot of confidence as I was beating girls which had faster PB’s than me so I think I can also attribute that to my success thus far.

NCAA

4Rebecca Lowe has improved

considerably since her move to the USA.

Typical Training Week (when not racing) Monday am: light easy jog pm: track session (eg. 5x600m) Tuesday: 50 min run Wednesday: hour run Thursday am: light easy jog pm: tempo run (eg. 20 mins) Friday: 45 min run Saturday: long run Sunday: rest

MASTERS ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

Clay Tompkins and Gianna Mogentale were named Athletes of the Year at the annual New South Wales Masters Athletics awards held at Homebush in May. Clay set an Australian record of 12.29m in the M55 triple jump in March, as well as state records in the long jump (5.60m), high jump (1.68m) and 100m hurdles (16.23).

Gianna won a brace of state and national titles, from 60m to 800m, in the W40 age group, and was part of a 4x100m relay team that set a world record of 47.74 seconds at the Australian Masters Athletics National championships held at Blacktown over Easter.

The NSWMA annual awards recognise excellence and achievement in Masters athletics, with many trophies on offer, including for sprints, throws, jumps, multi events and distance running.

With the biennual 2008 Oceania Masters Athletics Championships in Townsville recently completed, Masters athletes will now be turning their focus to the Pan Pacific Masters Games, to be held on the Gold Coast from November 1-9.

For more information about Masters athletics, go to www.nswmastersathletics.org.au

www.endura.com.au END2337 - 05/08

CHC50273 - 03/08

CROSS COUNTRY

RELAYS The cross country relays were held on 31 May at the venue which has hosted them for the last decade, Miranda Park.

Again the event had the largest numbers of any event of the Skins Winter Premiership.

It’s not hard to pinpoint a few reasons why more people are willing to turn up for the cross country relays: it’s magnificently hosted by the Illawong & District Athletics Club, it’s at an easily accessible venue, and the distance of the event isn’t too great. But the main reason why people come is because of the team aspect.

Cross country running can be a test of attrition at the best of times. Knowing that three others are relying on how well you can scale a hill or how deftly you can maneuver through turns brings out the best in athletes.

Of the countless friendly rivalries and duels between clubs the highlight of the day was the open men’s race. A seesawing encounter with the lead changing a number of times had spectators in awe over throughout the 16km of the race.

A swift opening leg from Ryan Gregson had Kembla Joggers clearly in the lead, with fellow junior athlete James Nipperess following him in for Sydney University 18 seconds behind.

In eighth over a minute behind was Randwick Botany.

Stephen Brown producing a strong sub 12 minute leg to continue to build the lead for Kembla Joggers. Veteran distance runner Nick Cope ran a strong leg for Randwick Botany, but was 61 seconds behind as he changed to Jeremy Roff.

Roff, the Australian 1500m bronze medalist, had not raced since the national championships and was unsure of his form due to missing some training due to injury. Any doubt was quickly dismissed as he cut the deficit

4 Erin Hargraves was part

of a Sutherland team that dominated the op en women’s 4x4km race.

4Ryan Gregson leads the field on the first leg of the open men’s race.

39 Inside Athletics

4Michael Roeger, formerly from

4James Matthews leads Jeremy Roff in the 3rd leg of the men’s 4x4km. in half with a run of 11:39, the second fastest of the day.

Kembla Joggers still had the lead, thanks to a good run

by Michael Roeger, who will represent Australia in the 1500m at the Paralympics.

Roff handed over to training partner, Jeff Hunt. Hunt, the Australian Cross Country champion from last season,

used his experience to chase down Kembla Joggers’ Barry Keem. With a fast yet controlled first lap Hunt made up the ground and went on to cross the line 20 secs ahead of Keem.

Asics Wests Colin Johnston produced a doggedly determined final leg to hold off St George’s Tim Rowe, who clocked the fastest leg of the

South Australia, will run the 1500m at the Paralympics.

day with a run of 11:36.

It was a sensational race and shows what can happen when the top athletes in the state turn up to the same place at the same time. It can’t be put any better than by Jeremy Roff’s words following the race: “It’s just good to just get out there for your club with your mates.”

Fastest 10 splits of the day: MEN NAME Tim Rowe Jeremy Roff Jeff Hunt Ryan Gregson Stephen Brown Colin Johnston James Nipperess Ryan Gregson (2) Luke Taylor David Ricketts

40 Inside Athletics

CLUB SGD RBH RBH KEJ KEJ ASW SYU KEJ ASW BMA

SPLIT 11:36 11:39 11:39 11:47 11:59 12:04 12:05 12:08 12:09 12:17

LEG 4 3 4 1 2 4 1 4 1 1

WOMEN NAME Noni Clarke Lorraine Hince Brooke Simpson Anita Keem Belinda Schipp Angela Williams Jenny Truscott Alexis McKillop Jane Miles Erin Hargraves

CLUB SUT KEJ SUT KEJ HIL HIL SSR SYU UTN SUT

SPLIT LEG 14:14 1 14:25 1 14:27 4 14:29 1 14:33 4 14:36 1 14:47 1 14:55 1 15:05 1 15:11 2

state cross country - Nowra

4With Ryan Gregson running away

from the field early in the under 20 men’s 8km, the race became tactical as athletes positioned themselves for the minor medals.

broke away

wn t, Russell Chin and Stephen Bro 4Jeff Hun n men’s race. ope the in on ly ear d the rest of the fiel from

Open Men 12km 1 2 3

Russell Dessaix-Chin SYU Jeff Hunt RBH Stephen Brown KEJ

39:23 40:30 40:52

Women 8km 1 2 3

Marnie Ponton Eliza Stewart Bilinda Schipp

SSR UTN HIL

29:26 29:46 31:27

1 Ryan Gregson KEJ 2 Christopher McDonald SUT 3 David Mainwaring GOS

26:07 27:41 27:54

Under 20 Men 8km

4Talented steeplechase Marnie

Ponton, formerly of Canberra, put on a classy display to win the open women’s 8km.

Women 6km 1 2 3

Veronica Wallington Alexis McKillop Amy Neville

SGD SYU RBH

22:00 22:58 23:06

RBH BMA GOS

19:09 19:13 19:27

Under 18 Men 6km 1 Joshua Johnson 2 David Ricketts 3 Cameron Page

4Charlotte Wilson (#782) leads a large field in the under 18 women’s race.

Women 4km 1 2 3

Celia Sullohern Selma Kajan Charlotte Wilson

BMA 15:49 RBH 15:57 ASW 16:15

Under 16 Men 4km 1 2 3

4Veronica Wallington (left) and

Alexis McKillop (right) finished first and second in the under 20 women’s 6km.

Zac Rea RBH Richard Bastable PMH Miles Waring KEJ

14:03 14:13 14:31

Women 4km

4

The event was hosted on Rod Gibb’s farm.

1 2 3

Chloe Douglas Hannah Menday Bree Jones

SUT CHE KEJ

16:19 16:23 16:24

41 Inside Athletics

RECOVERY TECHNIQUES With athletes constantly striving for ways to improve their performance, the focus on recovery techniques is becoming increasingly popular. Ben Liddy shows us ways to get the most from your athletic performance.

Many athletes are already training at their physical limits and adding any additional training sessions to their current schedule would likely lead to overtraining and eventually physical burnout. It is not the actual training that makes the athlete fitter, but the recovery that allows for performance improvements. If you fail to recover you fail to improve!

Of course without the physical training the recovery aspect becomes insignificant but if an athlete fails to give themselves a sufficient recovery period after a hard training session then not only will they fail to progress with their training but their performance levels will go backwards.

The focus of this article will be on different recovery techniques athletes may use to help them recover faster in their training. A faster recovery means a better prepared athlete for subsequent training sessions, and ultimately a better performance.

icy-cold water at Falls 4The Creek is a natural ice bath.

ICE BATHS From footballers to runners the ice bath has become one of the most frequently used forms of recovery used by athletes today. We have all seen the pictures of rugby players jumping into ice baths after a match or seen the pictures of Craig Mottram and other elite athletes immersing themselves in the icy waters at Falls Creek after a hard training session.

For those that have been brave enough to immerse themselves in an ice bath for 10-15 mins they will no doubt tell you how much better they feel afterwards and how much better they feel going into their next training session.

When an athlete jumps into an ice bath and remains there for up to 1015 mins the cold water causes their blood vessels to tighten and constrict draining blood from their legs. As this blood is drained from their legs the waste products produced during the training session, primarily lactic acid, are removed. When the athlete finishes with the ice bath their legs will then fill up with ‘new’ blood carrying with it greater oxygen, helping the cells and muscles in the body to regenerate and function better.

Some simple ways in which athletes can incorporate this into their training are to either fill up a large garbage bin or auto-bin with cold water and then add a packet of ice (easily bought from a service station) and immerse their legs for 10-15 mins. Alternatively, if the athlete has access to a bath at home they can run the bath with cold water and then fill it with ice to achieve the same effect. It is important to note that an athlete should not stay in an ice bath for more than 20mins as after 20mins the cells in the body actually begin to vasodilate instead of vasocontrict

meaning that inflammatory reactions are increased. If the athlete has any form of soft tissue injury any increase in inflammation to the area will prolong healing time.

CONTRAST SHOWERS Similar to the ice bath, contrast showers are used to help remove waste products from the body and enrich it with newer and more highly oxygenated blood. For some athletes having access to an ice bath can prove too difficult and it can also be a timely procedure, making contrast showers a more attractive option. The contrast shower is very simple. The athlete starts by standing under the hot shower for 3 mins and then turns the hot water off and the cold water on and remains there for 1 minute. The cold water is then turned off and the hot water back on.

This cycle is repeated 2 more times for a total of 3 cycles. The important part of this recovery method is to ensure that the athlete finishes on cold and not hot. This helps to stimulate the body’s nervous system.

When undertaking the 1 min of cold ensure that the cold water makes contact with the major muscles in the legs but also spend time with the cold water striking the back of the neck. It has been proposed that contact with cold water over this area maximises recovery of the central nervous system.

MASSAGE For those lucky enough to have access to a regular massage, recovery from training and racing can be greatly enhanced. Like the above 2 mentioned techniques massage is an effective tool in increasing circulation to sore and tired muscles and hence improves the flow of oxygen

throughout the body. A vigorous yet firm massage helps in the removal of lactic acid and a deeper more intense massage can be used to break down any adhesions or scar tissue that have developed as a result of the traumas related to prolonged and intense training. The timing of the massage and the type of massage received is an important element to consider when booking in for a massage.

Following either a prolonged or intense training session soft tissues in the body are temporarily damaged. Adequate recovery allows these tissues to rebuild to a stronger level than previously. However, if a very deep massage is applied soon after a very hard training session the tissues will sustain further damage and actually require a longer recovery period. Ideally, a deeper more intense massage should be applied 2 days following a very intense training session to allow time for some recovery of these soft tissues and at least 2-3 days prior to a competition. An athlete will often feel a little flat following a very deep massage treatment and leaving this 2-3 day window ensures that they will not feel flat come race day. A less intense but vigorous massage can be used at any stage in the training week.

SKINS There has been a huge increase in the number of athletes using compression garments and more specifically Skins over the last few years to improve performance and facilitate recovery. It has been proposed that the unique compression load applied to the muscles by the skins garments triggers an acceleration of blood flow, thus increasing oxygen flow to the working muscles and improving removal of waste products. Their compression is claimed to reduce muscle vibration during exercise resulting in less soft tissue damage and muscle soreness.

What distinguishes Skins from other compression garments is the unique gradient compression the

44oom runner Jamie-Lee Starr stretches in her Skins following a hard training session.

garments apply. Most other forms of compression clothing provide the same compression load over the entire covered area. However, too little or too much compression can either have no effect or inhibit muscle performance and flexibility.

In contrast Skins garments apply varying forms of compression over the different muscle groups to ensure optimal compression and maximal performance. (www.skins.net) NUTRITION The role of proper nutrition and hydration becomes increasingly important following intense training or racing efforts. Although most serious athletes follow a fairly strict diet it is important to review the roles of nutrition to ensure an athlete achieves maximum recovery. Proper nutrition ensures: Restoration of the lost fuel from the muscles and liver following exercise Replacement of fluids and electrolytes lost in sweat The immune system is able to recover from the intense bouts of exercise New muscle protein is manufactured, red blood cells and other cellular components are repaired Restoration of the lost fuel from the muscles and liver following exercise Following intense exercise, muscle glycogen levels become depleted.

These glycogen levels need to be replenished ASAP in order for an

athlete to recover effectively for future exercise bouts. Ideally, athletes should look at consuming 1.5-2grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight within 15 minutes of finishing their training session or race. Some simple ideas to achieve this include: (50 g Carbohydrate portions) 700-800ml of sports drink 2 slices of bread with jam/honey or banana topping 2 cereal bars Research is now suggesting that combining a carbohydrate rich snack with an adequate protein source may be more beneficial for an athletes’ recovery. Protein is used for repairing damaged muscles following intense exercise so it makes sense to combine a snack that restores muscle glycogen levels and also assists muscle recovery.

Combined carbohydrate + protein sources include: Sustagen sport drinks Fruit smoothie Large bowl of breakfast cereal with milk Bread roll with cheese/meat filling Replacement of fluids and electrolytes lost in sweat.

For optimal recovery ensuring fluids and electrolytes lost in sweat are replenished following exercise is essential. This is particularly important for athletes completing long training sessions or races in hot conditions. Athletes may need

43 Inside Athletics

Getty Images

Commonwealth Games 800m representative Dean Kenneally is one of the world’s leading 4Former physios. In this photo taken in 2004 he works on 2000 Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis. to replace 150 per cent of the fluid deficit following exercise to get back to normal levels. A good way to monitor this is for the athlete to weigh themselves prior to and after the completion of a training session.

If you are 2kg lighter following training then you will need to drink 3L of fluid over the next few hours to replace the existing and ongoing fluid losses.

Immune System Following intense exercise an athlete’s immune system is suppressed making them more at risk of developing an infectious illness. Recent evidence suggests that consumption of carbohydrate rich foods after a prolonged intense hard workout improves immune system function and reduces the risk of athletes developing an infectious illness.

Muscle Rebuilding After intense exercise or heavy resistance training muscle protein

44 Inside Athletics

is broken down. It is during the recovery period that the muscles begin to repair themselves and grow stronger and bigger. Intake of protein immediately following exercise assists in allowing the muscles to rebuild themselves at a faster rate.

Recent research shows that athletes who participate in resistance training based exercises should actually consume protein prior to their training session because it is used for muscle regeneration more effectively than protein that is consumed immediately following the training session.

The information on nutrition in this article was taken from the AIS website.

Monitor Recovery One way in which athletes can monitor their responses to training and the need for additional recovery is through heart rate. Athletes should get into the routine of taking their heart rate for 1 min while resting in bed in the morning. The athlete should then stand up and take their

heart rate for another minute. After doing this for a week athletes will begin to notice there is a similar difference between their resting heart rate and their heart rate upon standing. Continue to monitor this each day and if you begin to notice that the difference between the 2 heart rates begins to increase by greater then 10% it is a good sign that your body is not completely recovered from the previous hard training and requires additional recovery time. This additional recovery time could take the format of a complete rest day or a very easy training session. You may also choose to implement some of the recovery techniques outlined in this article.

Although quite simple, these techniques can be very effective in allowing athletes to recover quicker from intense training efforts. This allows the athlete to perform better in subsequent training sessions and also allows for more frequent intense training sessions to be implemented into the training week.

Enhanced circulation from engineered gradient compression assists in reducing lactic acid build-up A precision fit based on your body mass index (BMI) algorithm

To focus muscle power and dramatically reduce muscle vibration

Moisture management wicking draws moisture away from your skin keeping you dry

Optimises your body temperature in warm or cool conditions

Antibacterial and antimicrobial treatments discourage growth of bacteria and help prevent odour

UPF 50+

Daniel Batman - Australian 200m & 400m Champion and Olympic 400m Runner

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