Eliza the star among bigwigs
Eliza Mccartney’s Commonwealth Games experience started with three middle-aged men fawning over her.
The Kiwi pole vault star spent yesterday morning with some of the heavyweights of the athletics and Commonwealth Games, sitting at the top table of a press conference with IAAF president Sebastian Coe, Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive David Grevemberg and Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation chairman Peter Beattie.
For 25 minutes the bigwigs talked about bigwig stuff, but the attention of all three was piqued when Coe was asked a question about the 21-year-old becoming a poster athlete for athletics.
‘‘She’s young, she’s engaging, she is talented and comes from an athletics nation which really does have athletics at its heart,’’ Coe responded, before Grevemberg jumped in.
‘‘If I can I would also like to claim some stake as Eliza also being a great Commonwealth athlete and great poster athlete for us,’’ he said, before Beattie took his turn.
‘‘Everybody loves you,’’ he said.
While the whole interaction was a touch awkward, it did highlight the rising star of world athletics that Mccartney has become. But Mccartney remained humble as always, saying Coe’s knowledge of her was unexpected.
‘‘He is a legend and he gave New Zealand a lot of shout outs and even myself, which I was surprised about. It was really neat and a really lovely chance to meet him and hear his thoughts on everything that’s happening here.’’
Coe, a two-time Olympic Games gold medallist in the 1500 metres for Great Britain, went on to wax lyrical about the great Kiwi runners of his heyday, recounting the time he first ran a sub-four minute mile in 1976.
‘‘Who was I racing against? Fresh from his Olympic championship of ‘76 and the world record just a little bit earlier was John Walker. And Rod Dixon and Dick Quax.
‘‘I shared rooms with these guys when I was out on the circuit as a young athlete. So I know the historic importance of track and field in New Zealand and I’ve sensed in the last few years a real renaissance in the young talent coming through.’’
Mccartney will continue to lead that renaissance when she takes to Carrara Stadium on Friday.
She is the favourite to win the women’s pole vault, but it’s far from fait accompli.
Her outdoor personal best of 4.82 metres is the best in the field, but both England’s Holly Bradshaw and Canada’s Alysha Newman have gone within six centimetres of that.
The Commonwealth Games record of 4.62m, set back in 2006 by Australia’s Kym Howe, looks in serious jeopardy, especially with Mccartney reporting she is near to full fitness for the first time in a long time.
‘‘I’m having probably the best buildup I’ve had into a major championship. They never really quite go perfectly, but this one has been pretty damn close.’’
Mccartney will compete alongside 18-year-old team-mate Olivia Mctaggart, another who looks set to continue that Coedescribed renaissance.