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Sarah Jamieson will get the chance to complete some unfinished business in the 1,500m after being one of four Australians added to the Olympic track and field team today.
After missing several months with a persistent hamstring problem, Jamieson proved her fitness to selectors with two comeback runs in the United States – including a victory in 4 minutes 06.73 seconds in Boston last weekend which bettered the A qualifying standard.
The Australian Olympic squad was increased to 36 today with the addition of Jamieson and fellow 1,500m runner Lisa Corrigan, former Commonwealth shot put champion Justin Anlezark and national discus record holder Benn Harradine.
Jamieson toyed with the prospect of moving up to the 5,000m after a disappointing showing in the 1,500m at last year’s world championships in Osaka, where she went hard early in the semi-final, only to finish a distant seventh.
“I had a lot of critics and they were saying `you’ve got no kick, you’ve got to move up’,” Jamieson, 33, said today from New York, where she is preparing for the Reebok grand prix this weekend.
“But the reality is that I made a pretty aggressive move at the worlds to try and and break the race up a bit and I blew up a little.
“My coach and I have watched it time and time again and I think I just went too hard, too early – it wasn’t that I didn’t have a kick in the last 100 metres or anything like that.
“I just made a poor decision in that race.”
But Jamieson has not ruled out the prospect of shifting focus to the 5,000m post-Beijing.
“It’s an option as you get older,” she said.
“But I felt there was unfinished business over the 1,500 and I would love to be the first Aussie to break the four-minute barrier.”
Jamieson’s aim in Beijing is to make the final “and be competitive and run as well as I can”.
“The world championships taught me that you need to be prepared for all types of racing,” said Jamieson, who was eliminated in the heats of her two previous Olympic outings in 2000 and 2004.
“I’m just trying to get ready for any situation.”
Beijing will also be the third Olympic campaign for Anlezark, while Corrigan and Harradine will be making their Games debuts.
After a dreadful run with injuries over the last couple of years, Anlezark secured an upset victory over Scott Martin at the national Olympic trials in March.
He then bettered the Olympic A qualifying standard with a throw of 20.41m in England earlier this month and was 1cm short of a second A qualifier with 20.29m in Germany last weekend.
Anlezark was an impressive seventh at the Athens Olympics, but has battled in recent years to overcome a serious finger injury.
Further athletes can be added to the squad until June 23.