Athletics star sleeps in car
16:38 AEDT Wed Dec 1 2004
Sleeping in a car on a Los Angeles street with gunfire ringing in the distance was not what Australian Olympic track silver medallist John Steffensen had in mind.
But with the opportunity to train under renowned coach John Smith alongside American star Maurice Greene, he told himself that what didn’t kill him would make him stronger.
The cash-strapped West Australian was a member of the 4x400m relay team that saved Australia’s blushes in the Athens Olympic track and field stadium with a shock silver medal.
With the post-Games celebrations out of the way and his prized Olympic medal stowed on his mum’s fridge in Perth, Steffensen arrived in LA two weeks ago to begin a six-month training stint with Smith and former Olympic 100m champion Greene.
The 22-year-old was hoping his mate Malachi Davis, a Great Britain 400m runner would have organised a place to stay but it wasn’t to be and he ended up sleeping in Davis’ car.
“It is like a ghetto over here you know, you can hear gun shots going off, it was pretty hectic but I got some money through and now we (Davis and Steffensen) are staying in a pretty nice place at Marina Del Ray,” Steffensen said.
"We were training through the day and we would have our stuff in the back seat and we would get changed and use someone’s shower.
"I lived in a car for about a week and then I went from couch to couch until I moved into this place.
“It was wild times but these things only make you stronger.”
Steffensen had already spent time with Greene and Smith last year after changing from Australian-based coach Michael Khmel following the Olympic trials.
“I got the partying out of my system, so now I am just really getting into my training,” Steffensen said.
“The training is really hard but I am really content with my running right now.”
Steffensen hopes he can reunite with relay teammates Clinton Hill, Mark Ormrod and Patrick Dwyer to prove their silver medal was not a fluke, but he ruled out returning to Australia for the domestic A-Series which starts in January.
He said he would return for the March nationals, which double as selection trials for the world championships, if he was running 44 seconds for the 400m.
If not, he planned to stay in LA and risk missing out on the world championships in August in order to get faster for the European summer circuit.