FOR AN INTERESTING PERSPECTIVE ON INJURY READ ON…
Back track: Australia’s speed king racing time
Saturday, 22 January 2005
I t’s mid-afternoon on a weekday, well over 35 degrees in the blazing sun at the AIS athletics track, not a soul around and Patrick Johnson, sweat beading on his closely-grazed scalp, is going through his customary warm-ups.
Four decades ago, author Alan Sillitoe wrote about the loneliness of the long distance runner.
It’s true enough, too, for any track and field athlete but Johnson, pushing his knees high into his chest, slowing down, then ambling back to his start mark with that languid grace which invariably characterises the physically gifted, doesn’t want or need any company right now.
The 32-year-old star sprinter has been going through this training ritual week-in, week-out, all through his slow recuperation from a tear to his right hamstring. The injury occurred almost a year ago this week, just before Perth’s A-series meet, the traditional opener to the national series of track and field grands prix.
And the timing couldn’t have been worse.
So much expectation, public and personal, had been built up around the fastest man in the country in the lead-up to the Athens Olympics that he had - although not of his choosing - become the star attraction of the summer.
Then came the tear. In hindsight, with Athens just a few months away, Australia’s athletics bosses should have wrapped the son of a fisherman in cotton wool and eased him slowly into the summer.
Ironically, both Johnson and his major 100m rival Matt Shirvington suffered hamstring tears at much the same time. Both sprinters subsequently missed the national titles and their first tilt at Olympic selection. Johnson pushed his recovery, gained a place in the 4 X 100m relays, but despite a last ditch appeal couldn’t achieve his dream of running for Australia in the individual blue ribbon event.
However, if you expect any angst-ridden bleating or railing against officialdom from Johnson about that lost opportunity, then forget it.
He lives in the here and now.
He had vented a little of his spleen at the time - which is only natural - but now, it’s as if the whole thing has been mentally filed and a fresh page turned.
Wind the clock back to May, 2003. At a low-key athletics meet in Mito, Japan, Johnson emerged from the ranks of the “what-ifs” to post 9.93sec for the 100m and become the fastest sprinter Australia had ever produced.
But no showy antics at the time, just obvious relief at finally cracking the elusive 10sec barrier and the promise of better things to come.
It didn’t quite happen that way.
We had all kept our fingers crossed for him, of course, because there’s something about that no- nonsense Johnson work ethic which appeals to Australia’s sports fans.
Perhaps it’s a backlash effect from years of watching cocky US college-coddled sprint stars punching the air, then fondling their Olympic medals and mega-million-dollar Nike contracts.
Raised by his Irish father after his Aboriginal mother died when he was just a toddler, Johnson only began competing as a 25-year-old university student, when he was spotted at the 1996 Australian University Games by AIS talent scout Esa Peltola.
He’d raced at those Games on a dare from his friends, using borrowed spikes. But the Finnish track coach took a punt on the sheer athleticism of this latecomer. That athlete-coach bond forged nine years ago continues today, despite Peltola moving to Qatar and the pair corresponding by email.
The Queenslander was offered an AIS scholarship, came to Canberra, liked the environment and the chance to further his studies at high quality institutions, and settled down here.
Johnson has a part-employee/part-sponsorship arrangement with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which provides him with the flexibility to train six hours a day.
One of the very few advantages of stepping as a latecomer into elite athletics is the certain knowledge that setbacks will occur. Johnson believes it’s how you deal with them, mentally and physically that’s important.
“You’ve got to go through those injuries because it’s a great part of getting better,” Johnson said. :eek:
"They strengthen you. Because if you don’t have injuries you’ll never have that opportunity to further yourself because you’ll always be in your best shape. 
“For me, the injury wasn’t a negative thing, it was a positive thing. I thought ‘well, this is an opportunity to get my body even stronger’.” :rolleyes:
Johnson is plotting a steady course back to the top. He’s not running in the Perth A-meet today, preferring to stay at home, stick to the training regime, and compete at Canberra’s grand prix meet next month.
There’s no rush to push himself. He aims to be reaching top form by the end of the summer, then take his act overseas. He doesn’t want to peak in Australia because it would be difficult to maintain that level of physical “fine tune” before the big meets of the northern summer roll around .
“It’s a combination where you have to look at the small goals: getting through the [domestic] season, getting into nationals, then representing at the world championships,” he said.
"My long-term goal is the world championships.
“I’ve always been able to perform well in Australia but now I’m focusing more to do it overseas. I still have to run reasonably quick here in Australia, but not the times I’m looking at until I get overseas.”
His strategy is to work more on his 200m, which he believes will provide flow-on benefits for his 100m.
"I really know that I haven’t tapped into what I can run in the 200 yet given that I might have only ever run a handful of 200s all year round. I’m running 20.50s and 20.20s wind-assisted so I understand that’s an untapped area that could only improve my 100 as well.
“If I do a little more work on the 200 this year, that’s another base level for me.”
S o much of modern athletics is a celebration of youth. Most track stars hit their prime in their mid-to-late 20s. For Johnson to keep making A and B qualifying times to reach the worlds and ultimately, get to Beijing at the grand old age of 35, he’ll be defying the odds.
The clock is ticking, but he has learnt to come to terms with that pressure.
“Given there’s other sprinters who are older than me and been around the sport a lot longer than me, for me this is probably my prime,” he said.
“So I think in a lot of ways, for myself, it’s making sure I keep the love [of sprinting] but always progress to where I need to go. There’s always a high expectation of any elite athlete to perform well. But as everyone’s aware now, you can be the best in the world but you need to do it at the right time.”
Doing the familiar things is important. After the domestic season finishes here, he’ll most likely head to Qatar to “tune up” with coach Peltola, then off to Japan again.
“That’s where I’ve got the confidence to be very sensible,” he said, matter-of-factly. "It’s like the US guys and the best in the world; they do it all at the right time, at their championships, which are later in the year.
“Sometimes it’s a difficult thing in Australia; we have to be ready a lot earlier than the others. But that’s just the way it is.”
So what’s driving Patrick Johnson, keeping him motivated through all these lonely training sessions?
“I still have a love of what I do; that’s the most important thing for me,” he said. “Nothing’s going to stop me from what I love. So I’ll just keep chipping away and improving. Every year I get better and better so I think that’s the key thing: you learn from everything.”