Well whatever you say, Tamsyn Lewis at least has a world indoor championship gold medal to her name which is a higher achievement than most others who go onto TV “dancing with the stars”.
I think athletics around the world is reaping what it sowed: if you treat the press like shit for long enough, eventually they stop phoning you, stop attending your meets, stop covering your meets, stop covering your sport. At this point, they cover the new world record breaker and no-one else. And it is usually the celebrity columnists who grab most of the space to write crap about the superstar, who then gets fed up with such bullshit and refuses to deal on any regular basis with anyone in the press (tarring everyone with the same brush), little understanding that by turning her/his back on the “true” athletics writers in favour of the celebrity media writers they dug a grave for themselves and their sport.
But many of these superstars are like locusts, devouring the riches of the land ploughed by generations of workers before they were even born.
Perception is reality: If you cannot see the sport, then in fact it may as well cease to exist. Athletics coverage globally is in severe decline: The mighty USA sent only three journalists to cover the Berlin world championships in 2009; Most of Britain’s best athletics writers have been laid off - and they’re got the next Olympics!
I think athletics around the world is reaping what it sowed: if you treat the press like shit for long enough, eventually they stop phoning you, stop attending your meets, stop covering your meets, stop covering your sport.
Perception is reality: If you cannot see the sport, then in fact it may as well cease to exist. Athletics coverage globally is in severe decline:QUOTE]
I only have experience in Aust, is athletics world wide run by coaches, ex athletes or business people.I think the latter would agree with you.
Thanks anyway but I don’t be applying for the job driving the bus.
Anthony will be OK now he has been selected in the 2012 Target squad, he gets a mentor medical screenings and information seminars, training camps so much more than most.
I will drive the bus kit kat! But no one will throw me the keys…lol… I have tried to hot wire it always and they keep setting road blocks up and spike traps.
I hope you don’t include me in your pile of athletes who didn’t chat with you. I always tried to give you first dibs. I only ignored those who gave me the cold shoulder and negative articles.
Australian athletes were getting plenty of funding 10 years ago around the time when Shirvo was at his peak but it didn’t help them to perform any better. Many full time athletes who were getting a lot of assistance ended up performing worse. Perhaps that’s why AA won’t fund a 23 year old athlete who has already been training for many years yet can only manage a life-time best of 10.29.
Former Australian sprinters such as Peter Norman, Rick Mitchell and Hec Hogan all had part time or full time jobs, yet all still managed to win Olympic medals.
Btw, it is “would have” and “could have”, not “would of” and “could of”
I think there is an expectation of we deserve, we get, it is all right… Unfotunately a lot of people who think that don’t understand the other side of the coin, if you want/get/deserve something you better bloody well earn it either with past deeds, current actions and future work.
10.29? life time best? What is your insinuation? He’s not talented? He has run 10.16 at 21.
Didn’t help them perform any better?
Shirvo missed the OG final by one spot, and if he had run to form he “would have” made the final.
Your reference to past greats needs to be put into perspective - the costs of living is much greater now and the comparable income is lower. Additionally the sprinters of yester year didn’t have lucrative contracts offered by Rugby League or AFL.
It comes down to incentive. Sprinters have very little incentive to stay in the sport in Oz. Other sports can offer more.
A very knowledgeable man once said.part time training = part time results.
In the NRL YOU ONLY HAVE TO be one of 20 chosen in out of 16 clubs on the east coast of aus to be on a contract of 100k or more, in track in the 100m you would have to be in the top 10 in the world to match that money in Aus.Where is the equality in that.
The article said he’s Australia’s fastest man at 10.29. Ok, if his life time best is 10.16, he’s still way behind the best sprinters in the world. Whether he gets funding and trains full time or not, it may not necessarily make much of a difference to his times. Shirvo ran that 10.03 while he was studing Phys Ed part time at uni and eating McDonalds. When he switched to full time training and lots of funding, his performances gradually deteriorated. Same thing happened with several other athletes who I won’t name.
People just don’t pay to watch track and field, not in Aust anyway. 8,000 at a GP, crikey every club in the NSW RL gets that many every week.
Athletes feel let down, coaches feel the same, the officials work for 2 days and get a free lunch and a couple of cups of coffee, they don’t get paid, and are now hearing about kids getting paid to work offield.
Athletics has their own contracted media. I understand kitkat1 to be saying the general media get shunned.
If he improves that 10.16- to 10.08 then he is pushing any final major comp final on the world stage. What makes Holingworth’s comments ridiculous is Alozies splits. His 0-30m, 30m-60m splits show that he has the acceleration & max v to run inside 10.0s. But clueless morons like Holingsworth have no idea which athletes have the talent or where the money should go. AA are moronic idiots- they’re pumping the money away from sprints to technical events (throws and walks, vole vault) - which will bite them in the ass because jumpers & vaulters essentially are sprinters who turned to other events. No sprinters means a huge chuck talent way from T & F, obviously East African nations is contrary to this rule. And if you think AA are not serious in having no representative in the men’s or women’s 100m individual event. Then you only needs to look at AA actions in failing to send 4x100 m teams which have qualified and ridiculous condition that 4x100 relay runners cannot compete in the individual 100m if they wish to run the relay.
Shirvo running 10.03 from part time training and eating burgers ? You’ve got to be kidding! I got the program on paper and without nominating the coach who he worked with in the US prior to the 10.03 - let’s just say he was a full time athlete with NSWIS funding and support - his coach Khemel had him privy to the one of coaching greats.
That’s why don’t run track!!! And when you do run 10.16 at 21 the CEO of sport mocks your times and makes comparisons with running 9.6 and being a millionaire.
This is the problem with track…no media exposure, no money from races, tv contracts, shoes companies and so on…so, a top 10 ranked national athlete, makes like…a top 1000 nrl palyer ( so …no NRL,but academies, lower level and so on…)
Was the below program the one you’re referring to? If so, it was not the program he was doing in the lead up to KL at all, it was the program he was doing in the lead up to Sydney 2000. When he ran 10.03, he was only 19 years old and had begun studying a Phys Ed course at uni, so he wasn’t full time. The volume of his training was far less than it was post KL. His diet also wasn’t much good. He used to enjoy eating McDonalds quite often, although it definitely didn’t show on his body! Before KL he went with some other aussie athletes including Paul “Hendo” Henderson to Houston to train with Tom Tellez. I think they were only there for a couple of weeks. Dan Pfaff didn’t have any influence on Khmel’s training before KL. After KL, Khmel included a lot more weights in Shirvo’s program as he found out that Pfaff’s sprinters spent a lot more time working on their strength in the gym and a lot less time on the track. I don’t think this decision was a wise one. Matt put on a lot more muscle, especially in his upper body, but it did not translate into a faster acceleration. The less emphasis on speed endurance meant that he never got near his best 200m times from 1998 again. I think if they had just stuck to what they were doing he would have gone sub 10 in 1999. His workload was just insane for a drug free athlete which meant that he was constantly fatigued and getting frequent illnesses.
MONDAY :
Morning session - Maximum strength
Dynamic warm up (includes jgging, drills, general stretching and specific stretching exercises for this particular session.)
Power cleans - 90kg x 5 reps, 100kg x 3 reps 110kg x 2 reps 120kg x 1-2 reps
Bench press - same progression up to 130kg (286lbs)
Squats - up to 200kg (440lbs)
Various exercises for abs and back
Sprint drills and plyometrics at the track
Warm down including jogging, stretching and massage.
Afternoon session - Stretching and Swimming
TUESDAY :
Morning session - maximum velocity and starting acceleration -
dynamic warm up
technical runs: 6 x 60m
acceleration runs: 6 x 60m
starts - up to 10 starts over 30m
handicap starts (putting training partners in front 1m- 3m)
“flying sprints” or assistance sprints (down hill or using wind) 4-6 x 50m
warm down
Afternoon session : massage
WEDNESDAY :
Morning session - power strength
warm up
explosive weights ( performed as fast as possible with only 50% of max or
lighter for 3 x 10 reps)
power clean or snatch
bench press
speed squat
jumps from half squat
“Borzov” jumps
sprint drills and sprints at the track
warm down
Afternoon session - technical and tactical (video and biomechanical
analysis)
THURSDAY
Morning session - speed endurance and bend technique (for 200m)
Dynamic warm up
technical drills and runs on the bend
sprint into bend and off the bend 4-6 x 60m
speed endurance - 2 sets (8 x 80m) at 95% intensity
technical tempo 75% intensity (2 x 250m)
warm down (jog and stretch)
Afternoon session - regular physio treatment
[QUOTE=Neospeed;229108] His workload was just insane for a drug free athlete which meant that he was constantly fatigued and getting frequent illnesses.
This is not such a tough workload. He should try training for a a triathlon, Tour de France…
Twic a day training is carried out by plenty of sportsmen who also hold down a full time job.
Depends on the individual. Loading up on Impact training can be far more destructive than relatively supported training such as swimming, bicycling or any other primarily aerobic activity.
And Neospeed did refer to athletes training “drug free”. Let’s just leave it at that please.
The program you’re referring is a little misleading and is not the basis of my comments. I inherited the hard drive which Kheml had his 400m and 100m programs on. I also knew Kheml when he was a high school coach at Waverly College 1992 & I can give a chronology of his CV from 1992 to 2002 of all his 100m runners.
So I think I am more than qualified to assert that Matt was training full time and wasn’t eating burgers when he ran 10.03.
If you did know Khemls coaching methodology - then you would know that he would mix sessions on the day to day feel of athletes, e.g if Matt felt flat before comp he would change the session or at least some components of it.
Kitkat, do you think elite sprinters can/should go up to twice a day sessions ? Such as tempo on a high intensity day.
In the context of this thread, that is the point at which a full time job does become a struggle.
