Jana hurdles the mental barriers
February 15, 2008
JANA Rawlinson has her mojo back after flashbacks of finishing an injury-plagued fifth in the Athens Olympic final four years ago are finally gone.
Rawlinson has replaced her haunting memories from Athens with visions of winning gold in Beijing.
In her own mind Rawlinson has already won the 2008 Olympic 400m hurdles final in record time and has the gold medal around her neck.
Strangely, it is another injury setback that has helped the two-time world champion overcome her biggest mental hurdle.
The 25-year-old track star revealed she had never won a major international race without first being able to visualise every stride, every hurdle right through to the finish.
But, until an operation last month to clean up some torn cartilage in the second toe on her right foot, every time Rawlinson tried to visualise winning gold in Beijing the Athens final always flashed into her mind.
“I hadn’t been able to visualise the Olympic final, but the last three weeks since my injury I can see it now,” Rawlinson said.
"And I’ve never won unless I’ve seen it. Now that I’ve seen it, I think I can win.
"Up until about December, I was trying to think what the Olympic final would be like and Athens kept running in my head.
“I’m like ‘it’s not Athens, come on’ but now I can see it so clearly.”
Rawlinson’s injury has ruled her out of the domestic track and field season that kicks off Saturday night with a grand prix meeting at Sydney Olympic Park that will highlight American 400m Olympic superstar Jeremy Wariner.
Despite her injury Rawlinson still believes her physical preparation for Beijing is ahead of schedule.
In her mind she’s already beaten her toughest opponents in the final at Beijing - Russian rival and world record holder Yuliya Pechonkina, whom she beat at the word championships in Osaka last year, and reigning Olympic champion, Greek Fani Helkia.
Rawlinson has mentally prepared for every race situation.
“I do really believe if you cope with everything in your head you can do it on the track,” she said.
"So sometimes Yuliya is next to me, sometimes Fani is in front of me for a little bit but never at the end.
“Sometimes I trip over, sometimes I hit hurdles.”
Rawlinson even times her race visualisation and puts herself on target to break
Pechonkina’s world record time of 52.34.
“When I first started I’d get 53 seconds all the time but now I’m starting to get 51s,” Rawlinson said. "I get the world record every time.
"You have to prepare for it. If it doesn’t happen, you deal with it after.
"I was on world record (pace) at the eighth hurdle in Osaka. I can’t see why I wouldn’t try now.
"I’m so injured all the time I’ve got to have something to combat when I’m not training on the track.
“Last year we worked it out that it was 11 ½ weeks of training and I won the world champs and everything everything else was done on the bike and in the pool. That’s how you do it in your head.”