TICK TOK
Tokyo Olympics is right on time for more KJT and Dina gold next summer ...but the delay could finish off Team GB oldies ROGER BLACK EXCLUSIVE
TRACK legend Roger Black says the young guns will still fire in Tokyo next year – but Team GB’s golden oldies could struggle.
The 400m silver medallist believes the 12-month delay to the Olympics will have no effect on Britain’s top prospects Dina Asher- Smith and Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
But he says that age will be a factor in whether the hopefuls who had been working towards Japan THIS year will be able to maintain their levels of fitness and motivation through the delay.
Black said: “The postponement of the Games will affect different athletes in different ways.
“It depends on a lot of factors – and the biggest one is age.
“I have tried to imagine how I would have felt.
“I went into the Atlanta games in 1996 when I was 30, knowing I had loads of injury setbacks behind me and that I was on a roll. I’ve read that Kelly Holmes felt the same when she won her double gold medal.
“In terms of ‘seizing the day’, athletics is the ultimate sport.
“And sometimes a window of opportunity opens up. You’re on a roll. You can feel it. Your body is in a good shape.
“And leading up to those Olympics, I felt like that.
“If that had been halted and I was told the Games were postponed and that I’d have to wait another 12 months... that would have been really tough. I wasn’t 21 or 22.
“And I think for athletes who are around 30 this time, the postponement would have been devastating.
“It’s not like you’re in a football team where you’ve got a contract and you’re paid regardless of whether or not you are fit to play.
“In athletics, you don’t get big money unless you win big medals.
“If you are ready in Olympic year, fantastic. If you’re not, four years is a very long time to wait.”
Black believes that a number of athletes, now freed from the immediate focus of the Games, are switching their attention to posting personal bests.
And he is sure the 12-month postponement to the Games will not hurt the hopes of Team GB’s two brightest gold medal prospects, heptathlete JohnsonThompson and sprinter AsherSmith.
Black said: “World records are still being set, mainly in distance races. That shows athletes are resilient.
“And I don’t see it having too big an impact on our prospects, or on our two biggest stars, Dina and KJT.
“I don’t think it’s going to be too much of a problem for them. They became world champions the year before the Olympics.
“They are definitely not in the category of people who will be worrying that the Games have been postponed for the year.
“They deserve their tag as the poster-stars of British athletics.
“Dina delivers on and off the track. She’s incredibly switchedon, down to earth, athletically bright. In her history, she missed one whole year through injury too.
“Both her and KJT are the real deal. Katarina has a fantastic training set-up.
“Do they deserve the attention and acclaim? Absolutely, they do.
“But we do have a crop of talented distance runners too. Laura Muir’s a star in the making.
“As Team GB we focus on the relays a lot. We also have a crop of young sprinters, and I’d be slightly optimistic.
“I think we will do as well as we did in the Games four years ago in Rio. I think there will be one or two surprises and I fully expect Dina and KJT to be right in the mix for the biggest prizes.”
Mayathon (inset) is a great way to stay active and keep up with your friends and family during Covid. Buddy up virtually on the free app. Visit mayathon.com