Kiwi athletes’ daunting Olympic challenge
Athletics NZ planning to wind the clock back for a Games buildup just like the good old days. Marc Hinton reports.
With Covid-19 set to cast its shadow over next year’s postponed Olympics, New Zealand athletics chiefs are preparing for a wind-back-theclock event, with gold medal aspirants such as Tom Walsh, Valerie Adams and Eliza McCartney potentially confined to preparing as best they can from their own backyards.
And plans are already advanced for a marquee transTasman summer meet that will pit the best athletes from Australia and New Zealand against each other in an important hitout for those still looking to secure spots in Tokyo.
Athletics New Zealand highperformance director Scott Goodman told the Star-Times planning was already under way for an Olympics campaign that might bear more resemblance to that undergone by Peter Snell 60 years ago, than what we have become accustomed to in the modern era.
With the 2020 international track and field season all but confined to the scrapheap because of the sporting shutdown and travel restrictions caused by coronavirus, Goodman said planning had to proceed for 2021 as if global competition could be severely compromised.
That, he said, would require thinking outside the square to ensure athletes turned up at Tokyo with the best chance possible of performing at their peak.
‘‘The scenario we’re planning for, along with other sports in
New Zealand and Australia, is we might be looking totally at a preparation from our region. That’s means athletes who traditionally might have looked at trying to go to Europe or the US in April, May and June to get that last opportunity to qualify, might say ‘actually we’re not going to pursue that’.
‘‘We’ll plan to prepare our team to pretty much leave from New Zealand to go to Tokyo in July next year. I know other sports like bike and yachting are looking at things that way too.
‘‘If you go back in time, that’s how New Zealanders went to the Olympics. It’s just going to require a change of mindset for some of our athletes. It’s like 50 or 60 years ago, people turned up at the Olympics and were unknown entities. No-one had heard of Peter Snell outside of New Zealand before he rocked up at the track in 1960.’’
Goodman is convinced the Games will go ahead next year, though acknowledges qualifying and preparation are likely to be severely restricted unless a Covid-19 vaccine is developed quicker than anticipated.
He confirmed plans were advanced on a test-match meet between Australia and New Zealand in December that would likely involve Oceania athletes as well. There is also hope Australia could put on a gold-level international meet over the summer that would carry vital qualifying points.
‘‘We’re going to put a lot of effort into having an expanded domestic season between Australia and New Zealand, assuming trans-Tasman travel will open up,’’ he added. ‘‘The trouble is for some of our top guys there still isn’t the depth they need for genuine competition. But for the masses, we think we can put a pretty good series together and use some of the money we set aside for travel this year or pre-camps for Tokyo to bolster that season.’’
New Zealand has already qualified seven athletes for Tokyo (shot put trio Tom Walsh, Dame Valerie Adams and Jacko Gill, marathon runners Zane Robertson and Malcolm Hicks, distance runner Camille Busomb and race walker Quentin Rew) and Goodman saw no reason why they couldn’t get a team of between 12 and 15 to the Games.
Athletes need to either hit automatic qualifying standards or finish inside the world ranking cutoff at June 30 that the international body will use to complete fields.
Goodman said it was likely they would pre-select an Olympic team at the end of the domestic season next year and do what they could to help any on the cusp of cutoffs meet requirements.
‘‘Our athletes will have ample opportunities to qualify. Some distance runners might say they need races with perfect pacing to drag them through . . . but for inlane racing and field events, if it’s a quality event with good conditions you’ve got an opportunity to get a performance on board.
‘‘For our domestic-based athletes, I think we’ll be saying if you haven’t got performances on board by the end of March, we won’t conditionally select you . . . there will be a small handful who genuinely need that extra bit of time and we’ll leave the window open for them.’’
If the team had to prepare fully in this part of the world, Goodman said they would look to go to North Queensland in June to ‘‘get some warmer training in before we head across to Japan’’. ‘‘If you look at it that way, I think there’s a low risk that the Games won’t go ahead. What will be different is the preparation part.’’
Athletics NZ also has plans to gather Games contenders for a mid-winter camp this year, in the absence of an international programme. Hawke’s Bay is being looked at as a venue if Australia is out of the equation.
‘‘It’s like 50 or 60 years ago, people turned up at the Olympics and were unknown entities.’’
Scott Goodman
Athletics NZ high-performance director