CLIFFORD TICKS OFF HIS GOALS
Victorian Jaryd Clifford is going for gold in the 1500m, 5000m and the marathon
JARYD Clifford looks at things differently from most athletes, but not because he’s legally blind.
He has macular degeneration, which blurs his central vision, but still allows him to see things from the edge of his eyes.
He can’t see far ahead and finds it difficult to make out finer details, including recognising faces, but his visual impairment hasn’t impacted his perception and ability to see the bigger picture.
When he was 13, he wrote down his sporting goals on a whiteboard in his room.
Under the headline “running”, he listed them as: Paralympian, World Medal, World Record, World Champion, Paralympic Gold, Marathon.
He checked off the first goal in 2016, aged 17, when he was selected to run the 1500m and 5000m at the Rio Paralympics.
He didn’t win a medal that time but there was no shame in that because it was a red-hot field, so much so that the first four finishers in the 1500m posted faster times than the winner of the equivalent Olympic race for able-bodied runners.
“Rio honestly opened my eyes to a lot of things,” Clifford said.
“I remember being in the stadium and it was one of those moments when you don’t want to leave.
“I felt fully satisfied but at the same time, I thought I want to come back one day and win gold. That was just the beginning for me.”
Now 22, Clifford has already ticked off all his other goals, bar one, and insiders are betting the house that it’s only a matter of time until he completes his bucket list and emerges as a global star of Paralympic sport.
The American sportswear giant Nike has already signed up as one of his sponsors and could get an early return on the investment if things go according to plan and he wins Paralympic gold this week.
Clifford is entered in three events in Tokyo – 1500m, 5000m and marathon – and is the favourite to win the lot of them.
It’s a daunting challenge, both physically and mentally, and has been made that little harder by some of the unexpected added hurdles he faces.
While Clifford is the reigning world champion in the visually impaired category for both the 1500m and 5000m, he will be running in Tokyo without his guide, Tim Logan, who was unable to come to Japan because he’s been battling injuries so isn’t quick enough right now.
The world record holder for 1500m, Clifford runs at a pace that is faster than the four-minute mile.
To keep up to the speed, his tethered guides need to be world-class athletes themselves.
Not only that, the most important job of a guide is to let blind runners know exactly what’s going on around them so they can adjust their pace depending on how far in front or behind they are to their main opponents.
In races where tactics often play as much a part in determining the winner as pure athletic ability, running without a guide is a huge risk so Clifford knows he needs to be brave and keep his wits about him.
The Victorian will have two guides for the marathon (to be run on September 5), which is far trickier and more dangerous than any races on the track because it is run on roads.