Ratcliffe a backyard champion

What do you get when you mix Kiwi ingenuity, social media stalking and Princeton University? A champion hammer thrower, of course.

Those were some of the ingredients - hard work and dedication also played a big part too - which went into making Julia Ratcliffe a Commonwealth Games champion at the age of 24.

It all started because her PE teacher dad, Dave, was dead keen on her being good at sports.

‘‘We just had to figure out which one,’’ she said after throwing 69.94 metres at Carrara Stadium on Tuesday night to win gold on the Gold Coast.

‘‘We tried many sports, probably hurdling was my next best successful one, but then all the sprinters learned how to hurdle so that was the end of my glorious hurdles career.’’

Eventually they plumped with the hammer throw.

But rather than travelling to train at an athletics complex, Dave Ratcliffe figured why bother, they had a perfectly good paddock out the back to throw things into.

‘‘Mum and Dad are in a lifestyle block in Hamilton and Dad put a concrete circle in the backyard, so I throw into the backyard and there is all the livestock of the neighbours watching on, so we try not to hit them.’’

Papa Ratcliffe also wasn’t going to let someone else coach his daughter, despite having what Julia Ratcliffe described as ‘‘about a month of playing around with it as a masters athlete’’ for hammer throwing experience.

He simply taught himself instead. That earlier reference to social media stalking might have been a bit harsh on him, but his daughter said he could be quite brazen when approaching people online about how best to improve her technique and his coaching.

‘‘He’s pretty unabashed when he’s making mates on Facebook, it’s so great.

‘‘He just loves being at these events because he sees his mates from Facebook and goes and introduces himself. He’s got friends all over the world and it’s so cool for him to be here and make connections with his colleagues.’’

From the paddock in Hamilton, Ratcliffe made the move to prestigious American university Princeton once she finished at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls.

That wasn’t just because she was good at the hammer throw. Ivy League schools don’t have athletic scholarships, she had to get in on an academic scholarship.

But the journey to this Commonwealth Games has been tough, much tougher, in fact, than when she won silver as a 20-yearold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Neck, shoulder and chest injuries plagued her for months and she had to throw over 67 metres in the final three months before these Games to prove her fitness.

‘‘Up until about three months ago I hadn’t touched my competition weight, which I normally throw 11 months of the year, so I’ve only been on that for three months.

‘‘I probably haven’t been the best person to be around for a few months there. It was pretty depressing for a while, but my family and friends have really pulled me through.’’

The next goal was the big one, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but for now she just wanted a break from the sport after being almost nonstop at it for the last six years.

She will come back refreshed and hopes to be able to hear the New Zealand anthem being played again while she stands atop podiums at more major competitions.

‘‘It’s really no fun hearing other people’s anthems. I quite like singing, so you don’t know the words, so you can’t even sing along, not that you want to,’’ she said.

‘‘It was just awesome to be able to be out there and sing along. Incomparable to anything else.’’