There is a noticeable change in the air this week. The odyssey that is the Olympic countdown, has reached its one year crest and the official dawn to the London Games is now well and truly on.
Yet it is as much an awakening as it is a change. Australian sport is revelling the beat of its patriotic heart, as the nation toasts a new hero in the form of Cadel Evans, whilst the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team (World Championship gold medallists) reminded that there is scarcely a more formidable foe than a motivated Australian team ahead of battle.
In 366 days, that team – predicted by the AOC as being in the region of 430 athletes – will unite Australia’s efforts to retain its ranking in the world’s top five on the Olympic medal tally. AOC president John Coates, feels Australia has what it takes to make good on that goal.
“Australia is well placed, one year out, to have a successful Olympic campaign at the London 2012 Games,” Coates said.
“We are seeing some strong results coming through in cycling, sailing, swimming and many other sports, which indicate the 2012 Olympic team will be fit and ready in London to meet the target of finishing in the top five of the gold and overall medal tallies.”
It is a view shared by Australian Team chef de mission Nick Green, who believes Cadel Evans’ Tour de France feats and its impeccable timing one year out from London, will not be lost on preparing Australian athletes.
“I sense a change in attitude and energy in the way our athletes are preparing. What I am hoping is that Cadel’s win will flow into a belief that Australians belong at the top of the international sporting arena. Sometimes it only takes one person who beats the odds to inspire everyone,” he said
From a Western Australian Institute of Sport perspective, WAIS will be looking to continue the form of Beijing, where 15 athletes returned home with medals, among them, gold to Steve Hooker in the pole vault and sailors Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson.
A year out, below is a snapshot of the West Australians who could be leading the green and gold charge through London’s Olympic Games:
Steve Hooker has become a symbol of Australian sporting success. As a man who has won, and currently holds every major international championship available, Hooker will again be a focal point of Team Australia’s Olympic aspirations.
Hooker made his first foray into 2011 competition just last weekend, competing at the Monaco Diamond League after a lengthy lay off following injury. He has stated that the next few weeks will be based on competition and getting as many jumps into him as he can before defending his world championship title at Deagu’s IAAF Athletics World Championships in South Korea during August.
Hooker is also captain of the Australian Flame athletics team, which is currently enjoying unprecedented success on the world stage. “We have the best athletics team we have ever had,” he told The Australian from his London base, which looks over the Olympic Park where he will bid for a second gold medal next year. “You look across a large number of events at the amount of people we have in the top eight and it’s a really exciting time to be on the team. Success is breeding success and everyone on the team believes it is possible to win a medal.”
And fellow WAIS track and field athlete Kim Mickle will be hoping to emulate Hooker’s words, with the six time national javelin champion appearing on track to compete in her first Olympic Games.
Mickle has been in strong form in 2011, a season that has included a new personal best and an appearance with the world’s best at the Paris Diamond League. Mickle has already achieved an Olympic A-Qualifying standard, and will compete at next month’s world championships. The general view associated with Mickle, is that her best is yet to come.
World Champion gymnast Lauren Mitchell captured the imagination of a new generation of gymnastics fans, after she became the first Australian female gymnast to win a world championship when she claimed gold on the floor apparatus at last November’s World Championships in the Netherlands.
Mitchell is considered Australia’s most successful ever female gymnast, and has continued her strong form into 2011, securing four national titles at the recent Australian Gymnastics Championships in Perth. The 19 year-old is regarded as a genuine medal prospect on beam and floor.
The Australian Cycling team has returned to dominance since the disappointment of the Beijing Games, where the Cyclones came away with just one silver medal. The men’s team pursuit has been one of the key areas of improvement, with WAIS pair Cameron Meyer and Luke Durbridge both featuring in separate world championship wins in Australia’s resurgence since the last Olympics. Whilst competition for spots will be intense, with up to seven or eight Australian riders realistically in the frame, it is credible that WAIS will feature at least one athlete in the squad, tipped to fight for gold against hosts Great Britain.
The Kookaburras have swept all before them since claiming bronze in Beijing, following the appointment of legendary coach Ric Charlesworth. Under Charlesworth, the Australian men’s hockey team has gone onto World Cup, Champions Trophy and Commonwealth Games glory, with a strong blend of talented youth and seasoned experience throughout the squad.
Fergus Kavanagh has been a mainstay in the Kookaburras set up, and a year out from London would be considered a likelihood to line-up in his second Olympic campaign, whilst the emergence of defender Graeme Begbie onto the international stage, has seen the talented defender named Kookaburra of the Year for 2010. With Begbie currently overcoming a serious knee injury, he will need to work his way back into a squad that has also included fellow WAIS athletes Kiel Brown, Trent Mitton, Brent Dancer and Jonathan Charlesworth at different stages. As is the case with any gold medal fancied squad, competition for Olympic selection will be vigorous.
When Lisa Russ claimed bronze as a member of the K4 500m squad in Beijing, it was the first medal a WAIS athlete had achieved at Olympic level since WAIS head canoeing coach Ramon Andersson had himself earned bronze in Barcelona in 1992.
Now one year out from London, another WAIS paddler is making a splash. Alana Nicholls is forging a strong international reputation for herself following a selection of powerful displays in the recent world cup series in Europe. Nicholls campaign included gold in the K1 500m event, which is an Olympic event many pundits feel the talented West Australian can challenge for medals in. Nicholls will get another opportunity to test her wares in 2011, when she travels with the Australian Canoeing team for the world championships in Hungary in September.
