Rio additions praise star mentor Willis
It was appropriate that New Zealand’s three Olympic 1500 metre runners for Rio were all squeezed on to a ‘‘love seat’’ together at their altitude training base in Flagstaff, Arizona, reflecting on a watershed moment in the country’s rich middledistance tradition.
There was certainly a lot of love going down as new Olympic team additions Julian Matthews of Nelson and Hamish Carson of Wellington reflected on the enormous part played by Lower Hutt’s 2008 Games silver medallist Nick Willis in helping them achieve something pretty special in their sport.
New Zealand has won three gold medals over the 1500m in Olympic history (Jack Lovelock, Peter Snell and John Walker), as well as a silver (Willis) and two bronzes (John Davies and Rod Dixon), but has never managed to qualify three athletes for the same Games.
Now they have, and from where Matthews and Carson sit, a lot of the credit for that sits squarely with Willis who will be attending his fourth Olympics in Rio, and heads in as the fourth fastest athlete in the world over the 2015-16 qualifying period (the 3:29:66 he ran in Monaco last year).
Willis has taken the Kiwi duo, as well as another Games hopeful Eric Speakman, under his wing since the last New Zealand summer. They have trained together at the ‘‘Very Nice Track Club’’ in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Willis is based, and are now up for their second stint in Flagstaff .
‘‘It’s been amazing, and it starts off with him being a huge inspiration to us,’’ said Matthews who booked his seat for Rio with a sizzling A standard 3m 36.14s in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, in May. ‘‘He’s been coming to these Games since 2004 ... I’ve always looked up to Nick and he provided that motivation to get to the level we’re at now.’’
Added Carson, who had to sweat on the best of his five B standards posted during a purple patch in May and June falling inside the IAAF quota: ‘‘Nick has got so much knowledge in this event, and on training runs he’s always imparting that. I don’t think I would have made it to this point without his help.’’
But Willis, 33, revealed his motives had not been entirely altruistic, and that their team approach to this Games buildup had been very much a two-way street.
’’This being my fourth Games, sometimes the excitement of the Olympic concept can get a little bit routine. I feel embarrassed even saying that, but seeing these guys so excited about it has really been a joy to feed off their excitement and energy.’’
The addition of the 28-year-old Matthews and 27-year-old Carson, alongside 5000m runner Lucy Oliver and walker Alana Barber, in the athletics team for Rio completes a journey of sorts for the middle-distance pair who have been rivals since they were 14.
‘‘Jules is such a great mate of mine but I will never forgive him for beating me at the New Zealand secondary school champs when we both 17,’’ said Carson, dodging an elbow from across the love seat. ‘‘He outsprinted me the last few metres for that title.’’