After the Games

14 July 2006

Racing in the States

Prefontaine in the US was the first race back after the Games and was very interesting for me because I was basically setting up for the rest of the European summer season. It was more a race to see how much I had gained or lost post-Games. The result came out positive and well. It was a difficult day and was pretty overcast and windy. Prefontaine normally doesn't serve up fast times so I was happy with the way I ran. I finished eighth from a pretty difficult lane draw. Lane eight isn't the best lane at Pre, it's right on the fence line.

After Prefontaine I was a little bit tired and I took the time to sit down with Coach John Smith and chat face to face about what really happened at the Games. We went over a lot of footage and had a look at the athletics calendar ahead. With everything working in 4 year blocks between Olympics there is always a rest year and this is it. Some Australian athletes use it to rest and others use it to go to Europe and compete and earn some money and improve their rankings.

Normally you have a plan before a championship, say something like at least three races. To be at your best you can't really go out and run in all the races around the world and expect to be right for the World Championships or Olympics. So it was either I go and get my ranking up and chase a PB or I take the time to rest. I think from coach's perspective, because I am pretty young, he is worried about burning me out. So for me he looked at the way he went with Maurice Green and Ato Bolden after Atlanta in 1996. His main goal is to win the big championships so he gave me the option to go home and keep training or to stay and keep racing and battling through the season. I also had some issues to sort out in Australia so I chose to come home and take stock to set some new goals.


Athlete of the Year Awards

So I came home and one of the functions I attended was Athlete of the Year. For me the day ended up producing a whole mix of emotions. When I look back I wish I could have handled things a bit better but I have seen the same things go on year after year at these functions. After the great success of the Track and Field Team at the Commonwealth Games I was hoping things might change and that athletes could get a little more recognition. Certain things annoyed me with the awards and I thought I would speak my mind about it because I am a believer in sharing my success and I am hoping I can raise the profile of the sport for the benefit of all athletes. Unfortunately my comments were conveyed negatively by some parts of the media and I don't think the reports reflected what I was trying to stand up for. I learnt a big lesson from it but it still doesn't stop me feeling that athletes in Australia don't get the recognition they deserve and that part of the blame for that lies with our federation.

I was totally happy for Craig to win Athlete of the Year. It's not like he didn't deserve it you know. I just believed more thought could have been put into the awards by recognizing the efforts of a whole lot of athletes in a special year. The other thing that bemused me was the award that I won was for "Emerging Athlete". These things happen but I think most sensible people would recognise that I am perhaps well beyond just 'emerging'. I'll admit I was hurt but I've quickly moved on. All I need is a bib number and a lane to get my message across because it will always be done on the track.

Until the next time, take care.
John

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