Destination London: the race is on
Jenny McAsey | November 15, 2008
The Australian
IT is the black hole of Australian athletics.
Talented juniors rise through the ranks, scooping up medals at national schools championships and even beyond to the international stage.
A few steely characters, such as Olympic 100m hurdles silver medallist Sally McLellan, negotiate their way through the maze from junior to senior athletics, but many more don’t make it.
Typically they train for a year or two after they leave school but then disappear into the world of study and work and relationships.
At 15, Wollongong school girl Jaimee-Lee Starr was one of the world’s most promising 400m runners, clocking 53.78sec to win a bronze medal at the world youth (under-18) championships.
But in the five years since, Starr, now a married woman of 20, has improved by only a second and has stood on the edge of that black hole.
Now Athletics Australia has developed a program to provide a safety harness and pathway for athletes like Starr, aimed at keeping them in the sport to the London Olympics at least.
Target 2012 began on Thursday when 22 athletes from around the country, including a rejuvenated Starr, gathered in Melbourne for a four-day camp.
“Getting into this squad has given me a push and a wake-up call, and I have something to work towards now,” Starr said yesterday.
All were born between 1985 and 1988 and AA believes they have the potential to perform strongly at the next Games.
Five members - Lachlan Renshaw (800m), Jeff Riseley (1500m), Joel Milburn (400m), Dylan Grant (400m) and discus thrower Dani Samuels - went to the Beijing Games, and want to avoid being on Australia’s long list of one-Olympics wonders.
Take Georgie Clarke, the 16-year-old prodigy in the 2000 Olympic team. The world junior (under-20) 800m gold medallist in 1999, she competed in the 1500m in Sydney and was touted as a potential superstar.
Clarke is still running but has not been to another Olympics. It is the same story with 800m runner Grant Cremer. The world junior 800m bronze medallist in 1996, he went to the Sydney Olympics when he was 22 but has since vanished from the sport.
AA’s national youth performance manager Sara Mulkearns said it was important to stop athletes falling by the wayside.
“Post the Olympics we need to wrap our arms around this emerging group of athletes,” Mulkearns said. "We have four years now to get these athletes right for 2012, because sometimes they fall between the gaps, especially females.
"Some come out of year 12 and their talent has got them to where they are, then the next step is massive, so that is the gap we need to get right.
“We can’t pay them the money to keep them in the sport full-time, so it becomes a juggling act. They are trying to keep balls in the air with education, work, training, and it takes a lot of organisation and desire to get to that next stage.”
It can become a lonely journey, long hours at the track while mates are out earning a living and partying. Renshaw decided a year ago he would forgo the parties and put his energy into athletics.
It paid dividends when he was selected for Beijing but he failed to make it out of his 800m heat.
“AA have set up a platform for us, aiming to peak in London. It will keep us focused,” Renshaw said. “It is a hard sport and it is an individual sport, so these sort of team activities make you feel like you belong.”
Even though AA is cash-strapped, it has made the program a priority for the next four years. More athletes will be added later - for example ACT sprinter Melissa Breen, 18, is a future contender after her breakthrough 11.33sec 100m last weekend.
“Our athletes get a lot of nurturing until 20 and then suddenly we say ‘you are a senior athlete’,” Mulkearns said.
“In some events, like the throws or distance running, it might take five or six years to develop the strength or stamina needed to make a senior team.”
However, their place will be reviewed each year. Starr, for example, won’t take part in the program’s international racing schedule next year unless she meets targets.
“This program is absolutely spot on for Jaimee-Lee,” Mulkearns says. "This is make or break time with her. Talent has got her a fair way at a young age but now it is about digging in and doing everything right.
“If any of them don’t perform they won’t stay in the program, but we would like to think this is the core of the group we are going to work with through to 2012.”