The Games certainly proved to be a useful diversion from the tedium of COVID lockdown. Channel Seven's sympathetic and positive presentation of our athletes and their stories regarding their journeys to Tokyo were quite a refreshing change compared with the usual daytime television fare.

One of the most captivating stories that epitomised the essence of Australian mateship was the story involving our two male decathletes, Cedric Dubler and Ash Moloney.

The decathlon is a series of 10 events spread over two days. Now, each one of these events does have an equivalent held in the athletics program where competitors will compete for medals. But in the decathlon, individuals will only score points according to their performances and these accumulate to a final score. There are constant calculations being made by competitors to work out exactly where they are currently placed within the group. By the time the 1500m leg was held, Cedric realised that if he stayed behind Ash, Ash would score enough points to win a bronze medal. So sitting on his tail Cedric shouted constantly and encouragingly at Ash to pick up the pace, to which end he successfully won bronze.

Athletics Wollongong is lucky to have a junior decathlete in our club. Thomas Noakes lives near Camden and has a group of coaches working on his individual events skills, including our very successful pole vault group. Thomas carries an Australian under 18 decathlon ranking of 5, based on his score of 6,148 points at the NSW Combined Championships Sydney on January 24, 2021, competing in the Under 20 division. He is currently mentored by the South West Sydney Academy of Sport in Campbelltown, who at their Annual General Meeting announced that Thomas was one of the chairperson's nominees for "The Athlete of the Year" award.

He earned his right to be in the program based on the following impressive resumé:

Jan 23, 2021: winner of the Under 20 decathlon at SOPAC in the NSW Combined Championships, jumping a 3.60m in the pole vault and earning 6148 points.

The 2020 Combined Anglican Colleges NASSA/AICES Championships: Thomas was athlete of the meet winning 7 of his 8 events, earning 2 meet records, 5 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).

December 3-6, 2020: NSW All-Schools - 1st U17 pole vault 3.80m.

February 2020: 1st NSW State Championships Under 18 pole vault - 3.4m.

February 15, 2020: 2nd Australian National Championships Under 18 Men's Decathlon - 6027 points.

January 2020: 1st NSW State Championship Under 18 Men's Decathlon - 5681 points.

Decathletes are a very special breed. They seem to thrive on torture and come up smiling. Thomas has held an ambition to break the 4m pole vault barrier, but seeing that this is his much disrupted HSC year, that may have to wait for a while. Hopefully one day Athletics Wollongong may see him compete at national and international level (World Juniors in 2022 hopefully).

Athletics Wollongong wishes to congratulate former member Jimmy Turner on an outstanding gold in the 400m and silver in the 100m at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Jimmy was a little hard on himself thinking that he had let Australia down by only getting silver in the 100m. Our club has always been proud of Jimmy and the passion he brings to the sport. Two Para medals is nothing to be sneezed at. Well done mate.

Congratulations also to two of our popular Para characters, Charlize Colwell and Patrick Mitchell on their placement in the Illawarra Academy of Sport's AWD program for 2021 and 2022. Both of these athletes have an intense passion for athletics and are very keen trainers. We wish them all the best in the program. Congratulations also to two former members of Athletics Wollongong, Jarred and Tarren Dyers who earned their placement at the IAS under their swimming program.

www.athleticswollongong.org.au and on Facebook