Sally Pearson sent an emphatic message to her 100m hurdles rivals at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow – “catch me if you can”
In cold, wet, and windy conditions in the main stadium, Pearson clocked 12.69 to be the fastest qualifier, well ahead of arch rival – England’s Tiffany Porter’s 12.84.
Two weeks ago Pearson decided to give the Australian pre-Games camp a miss to try and catch up on her interrupted preparation thanks to a hamstring injury – Pearson went to London to take on Powers, who beat her in a blanket finish.
That run got Pearson back on track, far more so than a pre-Games camp, but not in the eyes of head coach Eric Hollingsworth who gave Pearson a massive spray, publicly telling the athletics world Pearson had set a bad example as captain of the Australian track and field team.
That spray rightfully cost Hollingsworth his job, he was suspended by Athletics Australia for bringing the sport into disrepute, and the Australian Commonwealth Games Association supported Athletics Australia by taking away his accreditation and putting on the first plane home.
Ever since Hollingsworth was appointed head coach after the 2008 Beijing Games, his attitude has been his way or the highway, best summed up by Tamsyn Lewis, who described Hollingsworth as arrogant with no respect for his charges, adding “He should have been sacked years ago”.
Hollingsworth hasn’t spoken to the 27-year-old Pearson since March. Only a fool would ignore his greatest asset with Commonwealth gold in Delhi 2010, Olympic gold in London 2012, world indoor gold at Istanbul 2012, and world championship gold Daegu 2013.
Pearson has ticked all the major international boxes.
Now Hollingsworth has gone, presumably permanently, there’s still business to be done in Glasgow, with Sally Pearson the key figure, and Eric Hollingsworth but a faded memory – already.
Overnight, the Aussies claimed just the one gold to Angela Ballard in the Para wheelchair 1500, and a gutsy one at that in the conditions, best summed up by one of Scotland’s favourite sons in comedian Billy Connolly who said there are only two seasons in Glasgow – July and winter.
Silvers went to cyclist Rohan Dennis in the time trial, and defending champion Kurt Fearnley in the Para 1500 wheelchair, and a bronze for Damon Kelley in the 105kg weightlifting.
So a quiet day for the Australians, allowing England to well and truly take command of the Commonwealth Games medal tally.
England – 44 gold, 40 silver, 39 bronze – total 123
Australia – 36 – 36 – 41 – 113.
Canada – 26 – 13 – 24 – 63..
Scotland – 14 – 13 – 16 – 43.
But tonight belongs to Sally Pearson and she will have compatriot company with Shannon McCann, and Michelle Jenneke also qualifying for the 100 hurdles title.
JAJI
Guest
Crow all you want about these irrelevant games. There was one big event in 2014 and you people barely managed a point and went home before 10 days had passed
Bondy
Guest
Well done Sal and a cracking bloody game of Hockey this morning too from our Ladies, top shelf...
Michael J.
Guest
I can't argue with that.
empireman
Guest
Now look you blokes. At Delhi 2010 Australia won 37 more Golds than a depleted England team .If the CWG at Glasgow ended now a still somewhat depleted England team would have an 11 Gold lead over Australia. That is a swing of 47 Gold medals in England's favour! Further evidence of England's sporting superiority over Australia,eh?
empireman
Guest
Poms at top of table kicking dust into Aussie trailing faces
empireman
Guest
David Lord! Zac Zevos! Spiro Mc Spiro!!Dame Edna Everidge! Pauline Hanson! Jacqui Lambie! Gough Whitlam! Tony Abbott! Germaine Greer! Julia Gillard! can you hear me? Your boys took one HELL OF A BEATING! BBC says it is mathematically certain that England will finish top of medal table!. the games will not be an Australian green & gold festooned sporting festival!
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
Okay, so if Hollingsworth has a long history of being such a disastrous manager, who in Athletics Australia or the Australian Commonwealth Games Association is going to put up his or her hand to resign for being so stupid as to approve his presence in Glasgow? And Sally Pearson (and others) may be the employee of these organisations -- but so is Hollingsworth -- are they really so inept at people management that the best response was to strip his accreditation and send him home? And who is going to resign over appointing Sally Pearson as team captain when they knew she would not attend team events? I see a big court case after the games, and a big payout to Hollingsworth for the damage that has been done to his reputation and future earning capacity. I hope the taxpayer is not going to have to stump up the big (undisclosed) payout he will receive?
Michael J.
Guest
Sally made the pom eat dust.
Punter
Guest
Well done Sally... Legend....tough woman.
Punter
Guest
Not really there are not too many non Soccer nations.
peeeko
Guest
well thats a controversial statement, your reasoning is? ever heard of the united states of america?
empireman
Guest
A bit of a princess perhaps...?
Knightblues
Guest
I think Aussies have slipped a lot in the last ten years, if its too hard they act like brats.
jameswm
Guest
Nice point of view.
jameswm
Guest
It was just a big lactic hit. She was fine. You've obviously never run a hard 400. Vomiting is not unusual. Not that big a deal.
empireman
Guest
Wasn't this increasing English dominance of the games inevitable once swimming events were completed? Mind you there were some great English, Scottish, and welsh results in the pool too.
empireman
Guest
That is correct lazza. Les Pommes have beating Australian competitors in sports across the board again since 2000 and will probably be harder to beat in next ashes series than many Australians think
HarryT
Guest
No. Because she collapsed and was semiconscious for 30 minutes.
Youngy
Guest
Let’s have no illusions about what Sally has to deal with in terms of the Head Coach, Eric Hollingsworth. There have been several instances where Eric’s heavy handed approach has caused issues with athletes. He argues he is aggressive in his approach because he reckons the athletes need to be toughened up. But, seriously, these athletes are already pretty tough. There’s little money in athletics, so the athletes generally have to make it on their own, sometimes for many years, until they get to the stage where they reach the performance level that warrants Eric’s attention. It’s ridiculous to suggest they need to be toughened up by the HP manager. That’s the role of the athlete’s personal coach and the athlete concerned. The HP manager’s role is to provide the infrastructure and support so the athlete can reach their potential. As Nicole Jeffery has written in today’s Australian, Hollingsworth was working closely with Pearson and her new and inexperienced coach Anthony Drinkwater-Newman as she defended the World Indoors 60m hurdles title. Pearson ran 2nd and had a heated exchange with Hollingsworth soon after. As Hollingsworth put it in his now infamous statement this week, Pearson “took exception’’ to his evaluation of her performance. “I asked legitimate questions of her after the race, and she didn’t like the line I was taking,’’ he said. Oh Really? Eric thinks it’s OK to questions of an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games champion on a performance where she won a silver medal in a world level event? Eric appears to be under some delusion that once an athlete get to the elite level, thy should feel privileged to be under his control. The problem for Eric is that he has ridden on the coat tails of Sally Pearson, Steve Hooker and a few other world level medallists. They are his meal ticket. Without international superstars like Pearson, he would be out of a job. He forgets he isn’t responsible for discovering nor coaching them to the elite level so he can have the privilege of working with them. When Eric Hollingsworth tried to shine the blow torch on Sally Pearson, Sally responded by sticking up a mirror which has reflected a more massive light on Hollingsworth. Eric finally took one too many bites from the hand that feeds him.
Lazza
Guest
Soccer countries just produce better all round athletes and the billions of pounds of Lottery money helps as well. We may never defeat the Poms again!