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Australia’s track and field athletes have no excuses for flopping at the Beijing Olympics, Athletics Australia’s national performance manager says.
Max Binnington has declined to nominate a medal target for a 41-strong track and field Olympic team, ratified today by the Australian Olympic Committee today.
But Binnington said the team, headlined by world champions Jana Rawlinson and Nathan Deakes, would enter next month’s Games well prepared.
“Those athletes who have been there before or been very successful in world championships, we want to see them certainly top eight and being a real chance to medal,” Binnington said.
“The biggest challenge for them is to make sure that their minds are really focused on the job.
“We expect them to be going in well prepared so then it’s up to the decision-making, whether it be race tactics or jumping tactics.”
Rawlinson (400m hurdles) and Deakes (50km walk) are considered the most likely athletics gold medallists.
Athens Olympic bronze medallist Jane Saville (20km walk) and Athens finalists Craig Mottram (5,000m), Steve Hooker (pole vault), Bronwyn Thompson (long jump), Paul Burgess (pole vault) and Justin Anlezark (shot put) are also expected to contend for medals.
Binnington said 23-year-old walker Jared Tallent could “do anything” in the 20km and 50km walks.
Tallent, who in April won the 20km test event at the Beijing Olympic venue, has been living in house at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra which simulates being 3,000m above sea level.
“Winning that race in China was a really big thing for me, not many people have beaten the Chinese in China,” Tallent said.
Sprinter Patrick Johnson and long jumper Fabrice Lapierre are awaiting results of appeals against their non-selection.
The track and field team is:
Men
400m: Joel Milburn (22, NSW), John Steffensen (25, WA), Sean Wroe (23, VIC); 800m: Lachlan Renshaw (21, NSW); 1500m: Mitchell Kealey (24, QLD); 5000m: Collis Birmingham (23, VIC), Craig Mottram (28, VIC); 3000m Steeple: Youcef Abdi (30, NSW); 4x400m: Dylan Grant (20, QLD), Clinton Hill (28, ACT), Milburn (NSW), Mark Ormrod (25, SA), Steffensen (WA), Wroe (VIC); 20km walk: Luke Adams (31, NSW), Chris Erickson (26, VIC), Jared Tallent (23, VIC); 50km walk: Nathan Deakes (30, VIC), Adam Rutter (21, NSW), Tallent (VIC); Marathon: Lee Troop (35, VIC); Pole vault: Paul Burgess (28, WA), Steven Hooker (26, WA); Shot put: Justin Anlezark (30, QLD), Scott Martin (25, VIC); Javelin: Jarrod Bannister (23, QLD); Discus: Benn Harradine (25, VIC)Women
400m: Tamsyn Lewis (30, VIC); 800m: Lewis (VIC), Madeleine Pape (24, VIC); 1500m: Lisa Corrigan (23, ACT), Sarah Jamieson (33, VIC); 100m hurdles: Sally McLellan (21, QLD); 400m hurdles: Jana Rawlinson (25, NSW); 3000m steeple: Donna MacFarlane (31, TAS), Victoria Mitchell (26, VIC); 20km walk: Jane Saville (33,NSW), Kellie Wapshott (26,VIC), Claire Woods (27,SA); Marathon: Benita Johnson (29, VIC), Kate Smyth (35, VIC), Lisa-Jane Weightman (29, VIC); Pole vault: Alana Boyd (24, QLD); Long jump: Bronwyn Thompson (30, QLD);Discus: Dani Samuels (20, NSW); Heptathlon: Kylie Wheeler (28, WA)