WA Athletes Ready to Take on the World
Western Australian Institute of Sport Executive Director, Steven Lawrence believes that the group of WA athletes that will represent the green and gold of Australia in China will be hugely successful and do the State proud during August.
“The number is good, the quality is good and the diversity really is there, so in all aspects WA can be really proud of what it is contributing to the national team,” Lawrence said.
The diversity Lawrence talks of is spread across a wide range of sports with WA fielding athletes in track and field, swimming, hockey, tennis and water polo just to name a few.
Western Australia’s Olympic contingent will also include a husband and wife combination (Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks in the Equestrian Section) and two sets of brother and sisters (Jamie and Gemma Beadsworth in the Water Polo Section and Kiel Brown and Hope Munro in the Hockey Section).
The diversity in the squad is something that Lawrence is particularly proud of.
“We are well above our representation target, spread right across 16 different sports, so it’s going to be a really exciting time watching our sporting heroes realise their dreams on the world stage,” Lawrence said.
West Australians is considered to be a possibility for medals in numerous team and individual sports, with 28 athletes speculated as possibilities in Beijing. Whilst no one can expect all to be successful, it is equally difficult to envisage who will step onto the illustrious dais in China.
“I think the stand outs have to be Eamon Sullivan (swimming) obviously as an individual along with Ryan Bayley (cycling) and Steve Hooker (pole vault) but right along side that are the athletes in the teams sports such as Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson in the 470’s (sailing), the girls in the women’s water polo team (Gemma Beadsworth and Emma Knox) and the men in the hockey team (Bevan George, Kiel Brown and Fergus Kavanagh),” Lawrence said.
Of the 48 WA athletes to compete in Beijing, 41 are WAIS scholarship holders and have had access to specialist coaching and facilities through the Olympic cycle.
“The Institute’s role is really to provide the special touches to what is a fantastic national sporting system,” Lawrence said.
“What we add is the final polish to these athletes, the attention to detail that makes the difference between being a competitor and being a winner.”
Beijing will be the sixth Olympiad since WAIS was created in 1984 and Western Australian athletes have returned 48 medals, including 19 gold in the years that have followed, but the opportunity to see 48 Western Australian athletes realise their dreams will be what Steve Lawrence is most looking forward to in Beijing.
“I’m looking forward to seeing our athletes get the opportunity to display their athleticism, courage and determination in what is the greatest sporting contest on Earth,” Lawrence said.