Humour intact as Willis leaves stage with ‘head held high’

Nick Willis may have been eliminated from the Tokyo Olympics at the semifinal stage — but he hasn’t lost his famous sense of humour.

It was a brave effort from the twotime medallist, who managed a season-best time of 3m 35.41s to place ninth in his 1500m semifinal on Thursday night.

That wasn’t quick enough to reach the decider, ending his dreams of an unprecedented fourth Olympic 1500m final.

But Willis showed his colourful side, when asked if he had a message for all his fans, and people watching around the world.

“Don’t do this guys, it’s so exhausting,” Willis joked. “I feel terrible now.”

The 38-year-old hinted at retirement, without fully closing the door on competitive racing again, staying that he would stay in training mode until 2024.

“I’ve committed to my training partners that I’m going to keep training for the next three years to help them out,” said Willis.

“Whether I still desire to race, I’ll let my emotions decide that, but I’m not committing to any more racing really. [But] I want to help them. One of my training partners could win the gold [in Paris].”

Willis, the oldest man in the 1500m field by four years, was satisfied with his final bow on the Olympic stage. While making the final would have been the perfect curtain call, he left nothing in the tank.

“Obviously, I didn’t make the final but I have no regrets at how I ran. I gave it everything out there. It was a perfect situation for me to have the chance at qualifying with one of those fastest times but I was two slots out of that, so head held high, really proud of myself.”

Willis came close to retirement after the 2016 Rio Games, where he became the oldest man to claim a 1500m medal and just the eighth male to reach the podium twice in the blue riband distance.

But encouragement and persuasion from his wife, coach and close friends kept him going, and Tokyo had been a wonderful experience.

“It’s not always easy but having young Sam Tanner here with me, it sort of reminds me of my first Games in Athens,” said Willis. “So I definitely have a lot of time for reflection, I’ve been journaling and trying to live vicariously through Sam’s youthful enthusiasm and feeding off that.”

Willis was stuck at the back of the pack for most of the race, then unable to find his famous final surge, as he finished ninth.

Only five progressed to the final from his race, won by Britain’s Jake Wightman in 3m 33.48s. Seven advanced from the second semifinal, won by Kenyan Abel Kipsang in 3m

31.65s, an Olympic record.

● Kiwi race walker Quentin Rew finished 16th in the 50km walk in 3h

57m 33s, 6m 26s outside the medals. The 37-year-old three-time Olympian placed 27th in the same event in 2012 and 12th in 2016.