If there was ever an International forum which showcased the depth and resilience of the human spirit it has to be the Summer Olympics. Channel Seven in its professional portrayal of events covered both the triumphs and tribulations of athletes and included in many cases the stories behind their journeys.
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We, as an audience were witnesses to one of the most historic occasions in Australian sport when Wollongong born and bred Emma McKeon was elevated to the annals of history with her awesome highest ever Australian 11-medal haul for the Olympic Games. Her four personal golds in one meet surpassed the greatest ever Aussie athletes such as Betty Cuthbert, Murray Rose and Ian Thorpe and her total of 5 Olympic Gold is equal to that of Ian Thorpe.
Only one other female athlete in Olympic history is equal to Emma's 11-medal total and that is Russian gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya in 1952. It may take a while before Emma and Australia realize the enormity of her achievements. https://www.mckeonswimming.com.au
Kaylee McKeown had tattooed on her foot " I'll always be with you" after her father had tragically passed away due to brain cancer. She tells of feeling him ever present when she courageously won three golds and a bronze in Tokyo. We all remember Patrick Tiernan in the 10,000m. With the home straight in site Patrick was so totally drained that he collapsed to the track three times, but still managed to stagger over the line to earn a personal best. Such is the humble but gritty courage of the Australian Olympic athlete.
Local athletes competing in Tokyo
Sarah Carli started her athletics career as a junior in Wollongong City Little Athletics. Her recent story is more like a resurrection. Back in February of this year after having already qualified for the Olympics in the 400m hurdles she was exercising with weights in a gym and somehow slipped whilst lifting weights and the bar fell across her neck causing a rupture in the carotid artery.
The injury was freakishly life threatening and only through skilful medical intervention was her life saved. Sara only had six weeks after recovery to prepare herself for Tokyo. Despite this setback, she showed the Aussie spirit and gave it her best and came agonisingly close to qualifying for the 400m hurdles semi finals by 0.1sec with 56.93sec.
Jye Edwards was a former student at Warilla High School. As a junior Jye was a member of the prolific Albion Park Little Athletics Club and is currently a member of Nowra Athletics Club and trained by Dick Telford. He was for a time a member of Athletics Wollongong where he still holds the current BU14 2000m record.
Jye has been plagued by a knee injury and stress fractures recently, but seems to have made a decent recovery. He qualified for Tokyo on April 21 at SOPAC when he won gold at the Australian National Championships with a very snappy time of 3.33.99 for 1500m. Jye's program has him competing at Tokyo in the 1500m heats on Tuesday. August 3.
Jessica Hull is a prolific international competitor. She started athletics at the Albion Park Little Athletics Club which must have been the launch pad of quite a stellar career.
Whilst studying at Oregon University Jessica competed in their Oregon Ducks team and finished her Oregon career as a four-time NCAA Champion and seven All time American honours. Two of her most recent Australian records are for the 3000m at the Doha Diamond league Qatar on Sept 25, 2020 with a time of 8.36.03 and the 5000m Herculis comp in Monaco Aug 14, 2020 with a tie of 14.43.80.
Although she hasn't been a member of our club, she was for a time a member of the Kembla Joggers club and trained quite regularly in the Illawarra area when travel restrictions were in place due to the 2020 COVID crisis. Jessica competes in the 1500m on Monday at Tokyo.
Nine alumni of the Illawarra Academy of Sport are contesting these Olympics. Nominations for the next LoneStar program (which includes athletics) open in August. If you're 13-17yo, you can register your interest here now: https://ias.org.au/lonestar/. Alumni include, Sarah Carli and Jye Edwards - Athletics, Kieran Wolley - Skateboarding, Sally Fitzgibbons - surfing, Ellen Perez - tennis, Emma McKeon - Swimming, Blake Govers, Flynn Ogilvie and Grace Stewart - Hockey
Inspired by the athletics or just bored with too much screen time during lockdown, and you want to run, jump or throw, then athletics may be one of those sports to which you are suited. Athletics has synergies with many others sports such as, Football, AFL, League, Union Netball, Baseball, Softball, Beach sports, Cricket, Hockey or any other sport played in the Illawarra.
Athletics provides you with an avenue to increase speed, endurance, flexibility and agility whereby you can perform your sport much more successfully. Many athletes only do athletics as their main sport as they gain a great deal of self esteem through seeing improvements in their performances.
To paraphrase a statement doing the rounds currently, you don't need to be great to start athletics, but you need to start athletics to be great. Our club caters for all activities and participation levels. We have community membership which allows you to socially compete locally, or if you have loftier ambitions such as competing in the Olympics in three years time, then there are pathways to enable that.
Athletics Wollongong's season start October 6. Registrations aren't open as yet, but when they do please go to the Athletics Wollongong Website, www.athleticswollongong.org.au for registration details. Notification of when registrations are open will be sent via this column, through the above website and through our Facebook page, Athletics Wollongong. Athletes who join a Little Athletics Club and are 12-17 years of age may also join Athletics Wollongong as a dual athlete, currently at no extra cost. When that option comes up during your Little A registration, nominate Athletics Wollongong as your dual club. Contact us on our website if you have any questions
After a lean year of competition, Athletics Wollongong's Thomas Noakes competing for MacArthur Anglican College took every opportunity to compete at the recent NASSA (New Anglican Schools Sports Association) carnival, held at Campbelltown Athletics Stadium.
Thomas who is on the ANSW TTP programs and current NSW Under 20 Decathlon champion) competed in 8 events, winning 7 and 2nd in 1. He ended up with two meet records, five personal bests and anchored his Macarthur Anglican College relay team in a gripping final event.
100m - 1st 11.76sec, 200m - 1st 23.92sec, High Jump - 2nd 1.70m, Long Jump - 1st 6.15m, Shot Put - 1st 12.52m, Discus - 1st 37.35m (Record), Javelin - 1st 52.16m (Record), 15yrs+ Relay - Macarthur Anglican College 1st 46.25sec. Thomas' main aim for the rest of the year is to complete his HSC with minimal disruption and then concentrate on representing Australia in Decathlon at the World Under 20 Championships in Cali, Columbia in 2022.
