I understand they thought the 400m was a good option because Australians in recent times have a record of doing quite well internationally in the event (Rick Mitchell, Darren Clark, Mark Garner, John Steffensen, Joel Milburn; Maree Holland, Cathy Freeman, men’s 4x400m silver in Athens OGs, bronze in Berlin WC etc); that Australians have no recent record of success intenationally at 100m or 200m (Peter Norman’s NR 200 dates back to the 1968 Mexico Olympics); that moderate 400m performances can create medal-contending 4x400m Relays; that moderate 400m flat performance can be the basis of medal-contending 400m Hurdles (Jana Pittman 2x WC gold; 2 x CG gold); and also that 400m performance coming from the endurance end of the training process can contribute to success at 800m.
Australia has quite a number of 400m guys who have dipped into the 45sec zone and all of them come from different coaching groups, so the necessary pre-requisits for success appear to be in place already.
The NSWIS project was just an attempt to harness the knowledge, experience, talent and desire for success and provide it with some direction and co-ordination, plus enough funding to keep the supervising coaches working over a meaningful period of time (a year, minimum?) sharing their information in a mentoring program.
From what I understand, there are at least another three guys who train fulltime or occasionally with Matt Lynch who have the potential to follow him into the 46sec zone and faster, although perhaps not this Australian season due to their youth or injury setbacks, or because their own personal coaches or the athlete’s circumstances (geographic, financial) have restricted their ability to work close enough with the project to actually fasttrack them in time for this summer Downunder.