http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24641626-5014066,00.html
THERE’S A NICE PHOTO OF MELISSA VIA ABOVE LINK
Melissa Breen: The fastest woman in Australia
By Mike Hurst, Athletics Writer
November 13, 2008 12:00am
BARELY a fortnight after Athletics Australia’s boss implied white girls can’t sprint, Canberra schoolgirl Melissa Breen has astonished the sport with a world-class 100m.
Barely 18, Breen has matched her glamour look with a result that has qualified for the World Championships in Berlin next year.
Australia’s other glamour girl: Stephanie Rice in pics
Her time of 11.33sec has rocketed her to the top of this year’s national open rankings - eclipsing superstar Olympic silver medallist Sally McLellan’s 11.41sec.
With the unblemished confidence which comes with youth, Breen revealed the secret to speed, saying: “You’ve just got to train hard and stay injury-free - anyone can do that, white or black.”
Her time, run in a Canberra club race, ranks her 10th fastest Australian woman ever and second-fastest junior (under-20) after the great Raelene Boyle - ahead of Cathy Freeman and Melinda Gainsford-Taylor at the same age.
With no male or female competing in the individual 100m or 200m - nor a 4x100m relay - at the Beijing Olympics, Australian sprinting appeared to be heading nowhere fast.
And AA CEO Danny Corcoran announced the cash-strapped national federation would have to rationalise its already flimsy funding support for sprints and relays.
“The general feeling is that on the world stage it is a very tough event to have an individual sprinter at 100 or 200m. We haven’t had an individual finalist for a long time . . . there hasn’t been a (good) white sprinter for a very, very long time,” Corcoran said. “We are looking at competing in events where we can win medals.”
At 175cm and 65kg, Breen is bigger than Boyle (168cm/62kg) when Raelene won her last gold medal at the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games.
Breen’s time bettered the world championships B-qualifying time and is only 0.03sec slower than the A-standard, which would virtually guarantee her selection.
“It would be better for AA to get behind the junior talent - we are the future,” she told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
But with funding drying up, Breen is facing even less support as the ACT Academy of Sport scholarship programme for athletics ends December 31.
Breen’s next race will be at Sydney Olympic Park this Saturday when her squad competes in the annual NSW Relays Championships. The squad is coached by 2000 Olympic hurdler Matt Beckenham. He is one of the best qualified coaches in Australia, yet is still unemployed.
Then the national junior 100m champ will finish her HSC exams at MacKillop Catholic College in Canberra before racing in the Pacific School Games in December.
“That race (the 11.33) was by no means perfect,” Breen said, promising to challenge for the national open title in March. “I have a wonderful coach and I know I’ve got so much technical improvement to make, so much more power I can put through the ground.”
