Willis confirms Tokyo Olympics interest
Double Olympic 1500m medallist Nick Willis has already switched focus to Tokyo in a bid to contest a remarkable fifth Olympic Games.
Fresh from snaring a bronze medal in the blue riband event in Rio, New Zealand’s top middle distance runner confirmed Tokyo was in his sights in 2020 when he’ll be 37.
‘‘Committing to another 4 year Olympic campaign. Likely 1500m in 2017, 1500/5000 in ‘18, then focus on the 5000m for Tokyo,’’ Willis posted on Twitter from his US base, adding he was hanging up the spikes for the rest of the current season.
The 33-year-old Wellington-raised athlete became the oldest male Olympic 1500m medallist in Rio when he finished third to American Matt Centrowitz and defending champion Taoufik Makhloufi from Algeria.
It added to his silver from Beijing eight years earlier, as he became the first New Zealander to win more than one Olympic 1500m medal and elevated his name alongside champions Peter Snell, Jack Lovelock and John Walker.
‘‘It’s more just a satisfying ‘yeah, I proved to myself I still had it in me’,’’ Willis said in Rio. ‘‘You’re never quite sure when you start getting greys in your hair, but I guess I still do.’’
Willis hinted at a move to the longer distance when contesting the 1500m and 5000m at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014, and looks likely to attempt both on the Gold Coast in 2018 before switching focus solely to the longer distance.
Athletics New Zealand high performance director Scott Goodman said last week he was confident Willis would continue to lead the middledistance programme.
‘‘He’s a fulltime pro, he makes good money running in the US and through other opportunities, and if he can manage the lifestyle he wants to keep on going,’’ Goodman said.
There was another potential factor that would lengthen Willis’ career, Goodman said.
‘‘The serious efforts now to drug test in Ethiopia and Kenya and some of those countries are helping him because some athletes who supposedly had a cloud over them are now not running so well because they are being scrutinised.
‘‘Unfortunately it may be a bit late in his career but it might allow him to keep going a bit longer because he’s getting cleaner opposition.’’
Willis has been a vocal campaigner against alleged doping among his middle distance rivals.
"You're never quite sure when you start getting greys in your hair, but I guess I still do." Nick Willis on his desire to keep competing