Steffensen Outraged

Members Area In the News
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Olivia Tauro ran 11.71 and 23.90 and made the 200m final at the 2005 World Youth Games having just turned 15. At the 2007 Youth Games, she ran 11.83 and 24.13 and didn’t make a final. At the 2008 World Juniors, she ran 24.09. She will be 20 this year, and her PBs are all at least 2 years old: 11.68 (fom 2007), 23.62 (from 2008) and 53.21 (from 2007). She now focuses on the 400m, where she always runs a devastating first 300m and then dies badly over the last 80m or so.

You can see her running in lane seven here: http://www.runnerstribe.com/event/main/video/id/236825-NSW-Track-and-Field-Championships-2010/vid/322754-NSW-Champs-2010-Women-400

Jacinta Doyle had her best year in 2007, got slower in 2008 and doesn’t seem to be competing anymore now.

Unfortunately these types of stories are all too common amongst young Australian sprint talents.

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That last 100m, moreso, the last 40m could be one of the most painful last 40m ive ever seen! lucky she made it to the line!

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Coach Penny Gillies has been like a fairy godmother to Olivia, who does have some issues. If Olivia can get back in control and take care of herself she might yet do pretty well, at least she is gutsy and a personable kid.

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The reason for Paul Hallum reference, a young man from my home town is an a AFL development team, apparently Paul boasted to the team that he is John Steffensens assistant coach.

Jacinta had been coached by PH for years, well before he became her step dad, she won the Aust titles back to back for a long time, Liv always came 4th. Things changed.

I passed Liv to Warren because her mom had not long had a new baby and she had a minor car accident coming to training, Warren was closer to where they live and we can communicate. I tried getting Liv in a local school and made the mistake of ringing the NSWIS for assistance, Paul was their sprint coach. Things changed from there, not long after I was deemed too professional (council employees wording) and was required to pay up to $450 for ground usage at local council parks to train even 1 kid.

I know Liv is now training with an old foe, I would really love her to do something special next weekend, only god knows how many obsticles she has had to overcome over the years.

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… thanks kitkat lol

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Is this story so good you felt the need to post it for the second time on this same page. LOL.

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Sorry to hear all that. As an outsider, I have only the snapshot of the time I was there.
Ideally, the athlete who develops an athlete is in the best position to stay with them with support from whoever can or will help.
There’s an old saying: "Managers (read coaches do) while administrators (read federations) control. All federations live to drive a wedge between coaches on the outside and towards those they have control over. I experienced the same shit myself.

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Then we have to get over it or die inside. I join cf in 2006 after wasting close to 3 grand going through the proper channels in Aust, I say waste because they do not seem to know what I wanted to learn. I wanted to learn how to understand programming, you appear to know it. Liv got to no1 here training for 2 1/2 hours a week, Warren kept her improving and at her first World Youth she was the only Aust athlete to run pb’s.

Up until recently I was coaching a young man 23, if I had not called it off he would have won the 400m at Perth this weekend, he is waiting for me to call him with a time and place. I don’t want to go there again, on the bright side it appears he is on way to being a member of the Somalian National soccer team.

KK what else is news.

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Guess you are right, nothing but shit.

I have uploaded some photos have a look,

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Both J.S & O.T. in the finals.

Heat 3: 1, John Steffensen, NSWIS, 46.20Q. 2, Yoshihiro Horigome, JPN,
46.71Q. 3, Andrew Boudrie, VIC, 47.18q. 4, Paul Cummings, NSW, 47.79. 5, Clay Watkins, SASI, 48.22. 6, Mitchell Cromb, VIC, 48.40. 7, Alex Glorie, WA, 48.47. 8, Andrew Giam, VIC, 48.64.
Women 400 Metres Open
Heat 1: 1, Joanne Cuddihy, IRL, 53.05Q. 2, Tamsyn Lewis, VIC, 53.49Q. 3, Olivia Tauro, NSW, 54.88Q. 4, Stephanie Mollica, VIC, 55.36q. 5, Angeline Blackburn, AIS, 55.84. 6, Joanne Stannard, WA, 56.14. 7, Shayleigh Gould, QLD, 56.94. 8, Caitlin Stanley, SA, 57.18.

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Steffensen (probably) qualified for the Commonwealth Games:

1 Ben Offereins 86 WAIS 45.17 CA
2 John Steffensen 84 NSWIS 45.72 CB
3 Joel Milburn 86 NSWIS 45.75 CB
4 Sean Wroe 85 VIS 45.98 CB
5 Kevin Moore 90 NSW 46.72
6 David Burke 89 VIC 47.03
7 Andrew Boudrie 85 VIC 47.11
8 Yoshihiro Horigome 81 JPN 47.26

What happened to Clay Watkins? 48.22 in his heat. Matt Lynch also disappointed running 47.97 and not making the final.
BTW: Tom Burbidge (Stawell gift winner) ran 48.29 in the heats.

Olivia Tauro didn’t run the 400m final, after running 54.88 in her heat.

100m Finals
1 Aaron Rouge-Serret 88 VIS 10.32 CB 0.4 (10.17 on the same track this season)
2 Matt Davies 85 QAS 10.44 0.4 (10.23 on the same track this season)
3 Jacob Groth 85 NSW 10.45 0.4
4 Patrick Johnson 72 QAS 10.47 0.4 (10.18 on the same track this season)
5 Isaac Ntiamoah 82 NSW 10.52 0.4
6 Kota Sakuma 85 JPN 10.56 0.4
7 Tim Leathart 89 NSW 10.59 0.4
8 Liam Gander 88 NSW 10.63 0.4 (10.41 on the same track this season)
9 Tim Rooke 86 VIC 10.68

What happened to the super fast track in Perth? Have they made it longer?

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That set sounds extremely difficult. What would be the rest interval? Michael Johnson, at his peak, did 3x200 in 23 seconds with one and a half minutes rest.

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4 Sean Wroe 85 VIS 45.98 CB 4th, I wonder if that p rick Eric saw that coming, ironic that his own man meets the fate which he thought Steff would get. Finishing 4th = no individual spot.

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I never thought JS would not make it just like I thought OT wouldn’t. I have seen them both at training recently (not with me). Sometimes a fairy godmother isn’t enough.

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If selection is right then SW will only be a relay runner and BO, JS, JM will be the individuals.
Wonder how much power a national head coach can sway a 3rd spot to be left open for his athletes (I am sure there will be others from that group who miss the boat).

100m times.
Maybe having an IAAF official there may have zerod in the starting gun and timing? Maybe it was never set right.

Can any one explain the time differences from the past 3 mths to now. I assume athletes are peaking for this meet and not already in training for CG later in the year after posting an A qualifer early in the season:confused:

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We will never know but on the upside we got a bit of publicity, got to be a plus. Still makes more sense to hold the Nats later then the top 3 go and no 4 is in the relay.

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Have you guys read the selection criteria, only first and second matter coming third and fourth mean nothing. The selection committee will go back and look at the times Milburn and Wroe have run and pick from there, coming third does not = a single spot. Have a look at the times and the A qualifiers each has done.

400m
A (45.65) 44.86 Ben Offereins (W) Sydney AUS 27/02/10
[45.32 Offereins (W) Canberra AUS 30/01/10]
[45.53 Offereins (W) Perth AUS 15/01/10]
45.28 John Steffensen (N) Rome ITA 10/07/09
[45.37 Steffensen (N) Berlin GER 18/08/09]
45.31 Sean Wroe (V) Berlin GER 18/08/09
[45.40 Wroe (V) Sydney AUS 27/02/10]
[45.63 Wroe (V) London GBR 25/07/09]
45.56 Joel Milburn (N) Berlin GER 18/08/09

Based on performance I would pick Wroe ahead of Milburn and I think the selectors will do the same, nothing to do with Hollingsworth.

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Sharmer, what makes you think EH has it in for JS? JS got his pass just the same as other athletes, he just realized that he could get knocked out whereas JP-R and SMcL don’t have the same depth in their event so there was no threat to them. Eric did not appear to harbour any malice towards John in the interviews.

Do you suggest JS receive some special treatment that is not afforded to world and Olympic medalists?

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To be honest, I think the right decision has been made with the selection committee (of which Eric Hollingsworth is ex-officio) picking Ben Offereins, John Steffensen (both automatic) and Joel Milburn for the third discretionary spot on the individual men’s 400m team.

I realise exactly why John Steffensen is upset with AA and Eric, but if this were the US trials - and the US culture seems to have been something close to John’s heart and psyche - he would also have been ordered to “perform or perish”. There is no discretionary selection, no encouragement award in the USA. You compete, you qualify or you miss the team. It’s the same in Aussie swimming, except you actually must do the qualifying time in the pool at the Trials. What you clocked last meet, much less last year (!) doesn’t mean squat. They are a brutal bunch in the pool.

So when you get an event with some depth, as is the case at this time in history with the world championships 4x400m bronze medal Aussie squad, then by necessity (IMHO) the first over the finish line is often (not always) the fairest way to select because it takes politics and favouritism out of the frame.

I do feel sorry for Sean Wroe who has been troubled this summer. Remember he was in the small Aussie team to compete at the world indoors in Doha, but after a lacklustre run for second in the Melbourne Track Classic he withdrew from that team.

I would say Eric is a pragmatist, a realist and knows that what he dishes out he must also cop in return. Milburn’s coach, Penny Gillies, also swallowed the poison when she had to drop him from the Berlin 4x4 medal contending (and ultimately, winning) side when his form simply didn’t warrant his inclusion last year.

So the men’s 400m scene in Oz is quite interesting at the moment and a bit of a soap opera at times but always entertaining, genuinely world class and for those reasons worth following …:cool:

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do you think that they will add to the mens 100 or 200 ? - there’s a good chance that PJ will run A Q for both the 100 and 200 again this season.