31.12.2008

2008 - That was the year that was

Triumph, frustration, elation, sadness – 2008 was certainly a mixed bag of emotions.

athletics.com.au takes you through some of the most memorable moments from the year in Australian athletics.

Hooker reels in a nail biting gold

The first Olympic gold medal in a field event since John Winter (high jump) in 1948, the first by an Australian male since Ralph Doubell back in 1968 and Australian track and field’s first since Cathy Freeman in 2000.

Steve Hooker had all of Australia in raptures on a late balmy night in Beijing.

In dramatic circumstances, Hooker twice cleared clutch jumps on his third attempt in the final, before clinching the gold medal with yet another third attempt clearance at 5.90m. With the gold medal secured he went on to break the Olympic record, with another third and final attempt heart-stopper at 5.96m.

Although the historic gold medal sits firmly at the top of Hooker’s achievements list, it wasn’t the only highlight for the high-flying West Australian.

Making the most of the ideal conditions at Perth’s Perry Lakes Stadium on January 27, Hooker became just the third Australian to clear the magical six metres mark. A height that had eluded him on so many occasions, Hooker became the 15^th man in the world to join the exclusive six metre club.

Super Sally’s sensational silver

Sally McLellan won Australia’s first ever Olympic medal in the 100m hurdles but it was the drama surrounding the race which made her sensational silver even more memorable.

Favourite and early leader Lola Jones’ spectacular fall on the ninth hurdle cleared the way for teammate Dawn Harper of the USA to win a surprise gold, however it was the result of the minor places which had all of Australia anxiously holding their breath.

The time of 12.64 flashed up on the scoreboard for both second and third places and Sally was in the mix in the blanket finish. The photo finish result awarded the youngest competitor in the field a silver medal and McLellan’s refreshing response of elation and shock was shared with bronze medallist, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada with the two celebrating trackside and bringing the essence of the Olympic Games to life.

Tallent's terrific year

The US$30,000 victory at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in Murcia, Spain brought to a close what has been an amazing year for Jared Tallent.

Massive personal bests at the 20km and 50km National Walk Championships set the scene for his first major international victory in Beijing in April at the official Games test event. He then joined with Luke Adams, Chris Erickson and Adam Rutter to take out the bronze medal in the 20km race at the World Race Walk Cup.

On his Olympic debut the 23-year-old became the first Australian male since 1906 to win two medals at the Games - silver in the 50km and bronze in the 20km walk.

Falling short of his personal best by just one second in the 20km event, Tallent then returned in the 50km event to smash his lifetime best by 5 minutes and 18 seconds, defeating world record holder Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia in the process.

His post-Games nuptials to fellow walker Claire Woods in Walkerville (yes that town name is correct!) in Adelaide capped off a sensational eight month period.

Australia’s best performance at the Games since 1968

When the mail arrived with the news that reigning world champions Jana Rawlinson and Nathan Deakes were going to be out of the Games with debilitating injuries, our medal chances in Beijing were looking very grim according to most pundits.

However Australia’s athletes stood tall, courtesy of some brilliant performances at the Bird’s Nest.

We had our best medal haul since Rome in 1968 where only 91 nations competed, compared to the 200 countries that were in Beijing.

Australia placed eighth on the medal table (equal with Great Britain) and 12th on the placing table with 40 points.

Top eight performances were also achieved by Youcef Abdi in the 3000m steeple chase, Luke Adams in the 20km walk, Jarrod Bannister in the javelin and the men’s 4x400m relay team.

Perhaps even more importantly, on the world’s biggest sporting stage, seven athletes achieved personal bests; Kylie Wheeler (high jump, javelin and heptathlon points), Luke Adams (50km walk), Jared Tallent (50km walk), Claire Woods (20km walk), Youcef Abdi (3000m steeplechase), Sean Wroe (400m) and Joel Milburn (400m).

Lewis captures world indoor title with shock 800m win

In a result described as a “seismic shock” by the IAAF, Tamsyn Lewis produced the race of her life to win the 800m at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain.

The race was billed as a battle between Maria Mutola and Mayte Martinez. Mutola - the Mozambique superstar bidding for an unprecedented eighth World Indoor 800m title, and the Spanish favourite Martinez - the 2003 World Indoor bronze medallist.

Lewis raced to the lead when a gap opened up with 350m remaining and despite being headed by Ukraine’s Tetiana Petlyuk in the last lap, Lewis fought back to claim the biggest win of her long career.

In other Australian results, Steve Hooker won the bronze medal in the pole vault, Craig Mottram finished fifth in the 3000m and Sean Wroe sixth in the 400m final in a night that belonged to Lewis - who collected US$40,000 for her win.

Powell pleases packed house in Melbourne

Olympic Park erupted when former world 100m record holder Asafa Powell took to the track at the World Athletics Tour meet in Melbourne in March.

Having injured his knee falling up stairs in his Jamaican home just prior to his departure for Australia, there was never the certainty that Powell would compete in his signature event.

From the moment he walked onto the track with his spikes on, every spectator stood to see Powell complete his warm up. They didn’t return to their seats until he had powered across the finish line recording a new meet record of 10.04 (-0.2) to beat the previously held best of 10.09 by American Maurice Greene.

The meet record in the men’s 400m meet was re-written by another international superstar, world and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner. The one-lap wonder from Texas ran 44.82 to set a hat-trick of season openers under 45 seconds. 

The Emperor arrives and conquers at HBA Great Australian Run

The Emperor of Ethiopia may have only been here for a brief visit but he certainly had an impact.

Melbournians were licking their lips with anticipation at the thought of the great Haile Gebrselassie breaking his 27^th world record on our shores in the inaugural HBA Great Australian Run.

The 15km race played out to script as Gebrselassie broke away from Kenya’s two-time world half marathon silver medallist Patrick Makau at the 11km mark, cruising to an easy victory.

Although the fairytail world record finish did not eventuate, the diminutive Ethiopian promised he would return to Melbourne - fresher and more determined than ever before.

In the women’s event, world marathon champion Catherine Ndereba reigned over a field that included Olympic marathon champion Constantina Dita.

Five national records quashed

Five athletes re-wrote the record books in 2008, etching their name alongside the open national record.  

Scott Martin sent the 7.26kg ball of metal a massive 21.27m, taking Justin Anlezark’s previous mark of 20.96m at the World Athletics Tour meet in Melbourne.

A week later, Martin’s good mate Jarrod Bannister launched the javelin further than any Australian before him with a massive 89.02m effort at the nationals. Bannister, who hurled three A-qualifiers in his six efforts, smashed the record of 86.67m held by Andrew Currey since 2001.

Another thrower continued the theme a month later. Benn Harradine broke the previous national discus record of 65.06m, set by Wayne Martin almost 30 years ago, with a 65.37m heave at the Chula Vista meet in California.

In a race billed as “the greatest women’s steeplechase field ever assembled,” Donna MacFarlane produced the race of her career to clock 9min 18.35 seconds in Oslo.

And just prior to the Olympics, Sally McLellan smashed her own Australian and Oceania 100m hurdles record twice in two weeks. First up in Luzern, Switzerland the 22-year-old clocked 12.58 seconds and was awarded a one carat diamond worth US$10,000 for her efforts. Then in Monaco, she slashed her time even further to 12.53 seconds.

Lapierre leaps to World Athletics Final victory

Sydney long jumper Fabrice Lapierre scored the biggest win of his career and a US$30,000 paycheck at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany in September.

Lapierre was only a late addition to the field, after his win in Zagreb and the withdrawal of a number of higher ranked competitors combined to earn the 24-year-old a spot in the final.

His leap in Stuttgart was just five centimetres shy of his personal best (8.19m) set in Nuoro, Italy in 2006.

Australia claim World Cross bronze

Outstanding runs by Benita Johnson, Lisa-Jane Weightman, Anna Thompson and Melissa Rollison led Australia to the team bronze medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Weightman (20th), Rollison (26th) and Thompson (27th) gave close support to Johnson, who won the title in Brussels in 2004 and was the first non-African this time in 11th place.

Mottram sets U.S. all-comers record in Boston

Craig Mottram opened his 2008 campaign in the best possible way with a stunning win over 3000m at the Boston Indoor Games in January.

The two-time world cup winner over the same distance outdoors, Mottram produced the fastest ever indoor 3000m in U.S soil, breaking Haile Gebrselassie's U.S. all-comers record, and his own Australian indoor national record in stopping the clock at 7:34.50.

Juniors snag relay bronze

Twenty-seven of Australia’s most talented emerging athletes competed in the IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydogoszcz, Poland with Angeline Blackburn, Trychelle Kingdom, Brittany McGlone and Olivia Tauro combining to win the bronze medal in the 4x400m relay.

Gowa causes massive upset in dramatic men’s national 100m final

The Friday evening of the 86^th Australian Championships concluded in stunning circumstances as emerging Indigenous athlete Otis Gowa (10.63, -1.7) won the men’s 100m final only to have the result sent to protest.

The start was initially deemed unfair, most so for decorated pair Patrick Johnson and Matt Shirvington, who looked good in their semi-final victories.

However, after two hours of deliberation by the jury of appeal, the crown was awarded to Gowa – marking an historic occasion for the Jump Start to London program of which he is a key member.

Famous five inducted into Hall of Fame

World marathon champion Robert De Castella, Olympic 400m hurdles champion Debbie Flintoff-King, multiple Empire Games gold medallist Decima Norman, Olympic high jump champion John Winter and Olympic silver medallist Pam (Kilborn) Ryan were officially recognised for their outstanding achievements and inducted into Athletics Australia’s prestigious Hall of Fame.

The five join Ron Clarke, Betty Cuthbert, Herb Elliott, Edwin Flack, Marjorie Jackson Nelson, Shirley Strickland, Raelene Boyle, Ralph Doubell, John Landy and Anthony Nick Winter in this exclusive 15-member club.

Gold, gold, gold for Paralympic stars

Outstanding efforts by Heath Francis, who won gold in the T46 100m, 200m and 400m and Evan O’Hanlon in the T38 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m set Australia up for an outstanding medal haul at the Paralympics in Beijing.

Tim Sullivan collected his 10th career Paralympic gold medal in the men’s 4 x 100m relay, Lisa McIntosh was crowned Paralympic champion in the T37 100m and 200m and Christine Wolf took out the F42 long jump.

Kurt Fearnley had to wait until the final day to collect his first gold medal of the Beijing Games. Crashes and an error by officials hampered his chances in earlier events, which made gold in the wheelchair marathon even sweeter, mirroring his feat from four years ago in Athens.

Vale Kerryn McCann

The year ended on a sad note, with the passing of two-time Commonwealth Games marathon champion Kerryn McCann after a short battle with breast cancer.

A much loved member of the athletics community, she will be sadly missed.

2009…

So, now we look to 2009 where we have our own domestic season to look forward to, closely followed by the World Cross Country in Jordan, World Youth Championships in Italy, World University Games in Serbia, World Championships in Berlin and World Half Marathon Championships in England.

athletics.com.au wishes all athletes, coaches, officials and supporters a very happy and safe 2009.