21 January 2005 | 4.18pm
Drama in the competition on day one of the AYOF track and field competition was matched by a dramatic electrical storm which swept over the arena.
Just as China’s Liu Xiaosheng was storming past his rivals on the home turn in the men’s 400m, a violent electrical storm swept across Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre, clearing the field of competitors and athletes in an instant. The storm brought with it torrential rain, spectacular lightning, and gale force winds which lifted anything not weighed down and flung it dangerously across the track. Given the extreme conditions, and in particular the danger posed by the lightning and winds, organisers had no choice but to delay competition for a period of about 25 minutes while athletes and spectators sought refuge and the track was cleared of debris. Thankfully, the delay caused minimal disruption to the program and the athletes were soon back running, jumping and throwing as though nothing had happened.
Billed at the event of the meet, the women’s shot put lived up to all expectations with a dramatic competition between World No 1 Jiang Limin and World No 3 Dani Samuels.
Jiang started well with a putt of 15.10, but in round two Samuels took the lead with a tremendous 15.30m putt.
A surprise was on the cards, until Jiang grabbed the lead by just 3cm on her very last throw with a distance of 15.33m. Samuels had just one more chance and she rose to the occasion with an awesome effort of 15.50m to equal her personal best, clinch victory and defeat the current World Youth (U18) champion.
An elated Samuels explained later that she felt she could achieve a personal best and would ‘give her (Jiang) a run for her money’. During the competition Samuels said she kept an eye on her opposition but was primarily concentrating on her own throws. Preparing for the last round Samuels was ‘pumping (herself) up, in case Jiang threw well.’ For Samuels, the most pleasing aspect was “I performed well when it counted.”
In contrast, Jiang described her performance as ‘not good; I was not in shape and weary after the long travel yesterday’. However she did enjoy the competition. Her season commences in earnest next month with some indoor competitions.
Samuels and Jiang next go head-to-head at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Morocco in July.
The baby of the Australian team, 14 year-old Olivia Tauro, took gold in the Women’s 100m sprint, in the process beating many older and better credentialed rivals. She immediately described the moment she crossed the line as “the scariest thing ever!”
“That was great,” she squealed. “That was unbelievable!”
Tauro recently moved from her hometown of Newcastle to Sydney to take advantage of the facilities at the NSW Institute of Sport, and she was heavily supported by family and friends who had made the trip down the coast. They were rewarded for their efforts when she crossed the line in a brilliant wind assisted 11.83s, beating Tasmanian Madelin Poke and China’s Deng Hailian. Later in the day, Tauro added to her medal haul, helping her 4 x 100m team to third place, and with her pet event, the 200m, yet to come, she could be spending even more time on the victory dais.
Following Tauro’s victory, Brisbane’s Heath Goodall ensured Australia claimed the sprint double, holding off the challenge of China’s Huang Xingewei and Victoria’s Joshua Ross to grab gold. Not even a toe injury suffered in his preparation, the result of an unfortunate run in with a bicycle, could stop Heath from posting a wind assisted 10.83s. Speaking after the race Goodall said his plan had been: “There is no plan! Just run hard and focus.” It worked to perfection.
Earlier in the day China’s Zhou Heng produced a stunning performance in dominating the Men’s Hammer Throw, despite the unfavourable blustery conditions. He won the event with a spectacular throw of 71.26m, more than 18m further than his nearest rival. That was Australia’s Emanuele Famatu, who surprised even himself in winning silver with a throw of 53.05m. He was already looking forward to his favoured event, the Shot Put, but was delighted to pick up a bonus silver medal. “I just went out there for a bit of fun,” he said. “I don’t even really train for this event!” In third place was Bart Atherinos (49.64m), who literally trains in the cane fields of North Queensland near his hometown of Cairns. His coach has cut a rough training paddock into one of his fields and tutors Atherinos as he hurls the discus and hammer into the cane.
The women’s 1500m was a very tactical event with no athlete wanting to take the lead. The slow pace continued for over two laps, playing into the hands of the faster athletes. Zoe Buckman (AUS), who just six months ago had represented Australia in the 4x400m relay at the World Juniors, was warming as the likely winner with her obliviously superior speed. Buckman, who has only moved up to the 1500m this season, took the lead with a little over 100m to go. "I felt strong and knew I had a speed.’ Buckman strode to the line just ahead of Sydney’s Lexy Gilmour and Paige Graham (AUS). The time was slow (4:41.60), but the victory gave Buckman confident for the remainder of the season.
The men’s triple jump was a tremendous battle with China’s World leader, Min Li, suffering a defeat at the hands of Brisbane’s Scott McLeod-Robertson, who leapt 14.95m.
Not all athletes were put off by the storm however, with Men’s Javelin Silver Medalist Nathan Burgess claiming it helped him. “I liked the storm,” he said. “It really got the adrenaline going!”
Late in the day the weather turned again. The sun burst through and the stadium was crowned by a dramatic rainbow. For many of these young athletes, however, chasing a pot of gold was secondary to the thrill of representing their country. Like Women’s 400m winner Carly Feben, who ran with the Australian flag tattooed on her leg and stomach. “It feels great just to represent Australia,” she said. “It’s just great to be part of this team and part of this event.”
Tasmanian Ryan Foster ran a great race in the 2000m steeplechase placing a gallant second to New Zealander Terefe Ejigu, and unfortunately missing the World youth qualifying standard by just 0.06 seconds clocking a time of 5:58.06.
Queenslander Lachlan Stanton, caused a major upset in the 110m hurdles when he defeated the favourite Hong Xiaofeng. Stanton ran a wind assisted 13.89, ahead of Hong’s 14.01. Olivia Tauro sprung a surprise in the 100m, clocking a very fast 11.83, aided by a 2.6m/s wind. Ashlea Gilfillan, competing in her second AYOF, dominated the 2000m steeplechase, leading three athletes under the meet record. Gilfillan clocked a personal best time of 6:49.14 to slice 16 seconds from the meet record.
Other outstanding performances on day: Tara Holt 110m hurdles windy 13.82, Jin Chao Javelin 66.07m, Sha Li triple jump 13.28.
The point score after day one was:
Australia C 128p, Australia B 108p, Australia D 101p, Australia A 89p, China 86p and NZL 69p.
China and NZL were suffering on the points score as they were unable to field full teams.
Australian Qualifying performances for the 2005 World Youth Championships:
Dani Samuels AUS 15.50m
Meet Records (11):
Men Hammer Throw - Zhou Heng CHN 71.26m
Men Triple Jump - Scott McLeod-Robertson AUS 14.95w
Men 110m Hurdles – Lachlan Stanton AUS 13.89w
Men 400m - Xiaosheng Liu CHN 48.49
Men 2000m Steeplechase – Terefe Ejigu NZL 5:57.50
Women Shot - Dani Samuels AUS 15.50m
Women 100m – Olivia Tauro AUS 11.83w
Women Javelin - Lingwei Li CHN 51.19m
Women 100m Hurdles – Tara Holt AUS 13.82w
Women Triple Jump – Li Sha CHN 13.28m
Women 2000m Steeplechase – Ashlea Gilfillan AUS 6:49.14
Prepared by Will Sinclair and David Tarbotton