Shirvo’s running out of timePAUL KENT
November 26, 2006 12:15am
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MATT Shirvington is that curious beast – the unfulfilled athlete. The one slightly tortured.
Ever since he was a young boy who could outrun the neighbourhood kids, the Aussie has wanted to be not just a sprinter, but the fastest in the world.
Eight years ago, aged 19, he ran 10.03sec and the world took notice.
It looked like it would be only a matter of time before he made good on his promise to himself.
In the years that have followed, that 10.03 number has, rather than inspire Shirvington to greater days, tortured him. He has never run that fast again.
“My whole career, everyone has been telling me: `You’re amazing, sprinters don’t peak until their late 20s, early 30s, isn’t it great you still got all that improvement in front of you’,” he said.
“I remember thinking: `That’s great, but I don’t want to wait until then, I want it now’. But I am here now. This is my late 20s, so I need to tap into that.” It is not that he hasn’t had reminders. At his London home is a pile of birthday cards from his 28th birthday last month.
Unlike past years, which carried more or less just a birthday wish, many of this year’s cards ran with similar themes.
“People have been sending me cards saying: `You’re not far off 30 now so you better get your s…t together’,” he said.
He laughs, but sees the truth disguised in the humour. He is behaving accordingly.
“Every day is now or never,” he said. For many outside athletics, Shirvington is best known as the face of Beyond Tomorrow, Channel Seven’s science show. In many ways, it has been just the tonic to calm his demons. Shirvington is no different from most elite athletes in that he can be obsessed with himself.
Every little ailment can blow out of proportion, while the truly serious ones can be mood altering.
Beyond Tomorrow, for which he was nominated for a Logie, “has been really therapeutic” in terms of his recovery off the track.
"Obviously sometimes you don’t want to do it because you’re tired and you want to spend some time at home, but I’m glad I did it.
“It’s therapeutic to get away from it all and not think about training, and to have people around you that aren’t obsessive about it.”
Shirvington, who flies to Australia on Friday for three months of summer racing, now believes he finally has got it right.
With 12 months of injury-free training behind him, he feels every session now is another in the bank.
He feels ready to make good on that potential, his biggest race now being the race for time to correct some flaws in technique before Beijing.
Now when he looks back on that young boy, and what he knew, Shirvington sees the impatience and naivety in comparison to where he is now – and he sees his future.
“Why has history shown that (late 20s, early 30s) is the performance peak?” he said.
"I believe my strength is better, my endurance is better and my power is better.
"Overall, it now is about keeping fit and healthy and harnessing it the right way, which is the technical aspect.
“If I can do all those things, then who knows what will happen?”
