In 2018, Jeff Riseley had all but packed it in.
A decade-long career spanning three Olympic Games was set to finish in Japan, as Riseley and his parents boarded the plane for what was essentially a farewell tour.
“It was going to be my last race before retiring,” he said.
“I was battling a chronic Achilles injury that I ended up having surgery on, with the goal of just being able to run pain free and enjoy running again.”
The mental burden stemming from self-doubt weighed him down as if his spikes were bricks, but Riseley would soon convince himself that the battle in his head was one that he could win.
“I just couldn’t give it up and the journey really started there, with the hope of one day experiencing the feeling you get after a good result,” he said.
Self-doubt soon turned to self-belief as Riseley embarked on a relentless pursuit of his best, but the Australian veteran’s dream still appeared a distant reality.
Riseley raced on the track twice in 2019 for underwhelming results, before COVID-19 put a 10-month pause on domestic racing in 2020 – an eternity for the 33-year-old.
But 2021 arrived and Riseley was still standing.
“It’s just been something I’ve wanted really badly, to prove to myself the persistence and resilience I’ve shown throughout my career,” he said.
“I knew I’d put in so much work and believed that the time would come if I just stuck to the process.”
There was a glimmer of hope for Riseley when running 1:46.86 at the Sydney Track Classic, but he proceeded to be eliminated in the semi-finals of the 800m at the Australian Track and Field Championships and Olympic trials.
Well outside the Olympic quota, the only option left to make his fourth Olympic Games was to run the 1:45.20 Olympic standard – a time he had not run since 2016.
But Riseley had come too far to concede defeat, jetting off to Europe – his bags brimming with an unwavering confidence.
His first two encounters on international soil saw him run 1:45.34 and 1:45.36, before the dam wall busted in Poland when Riseley clocked 1:44.85 – crushing the Olympic standard with his fastest time since 2012.
“It’s definitely a relief but when you’ve been outside the sport for a long time it’s more been about enjoying and embracing the opportunities I’ve got to be competing and traveling during a global pandemic,” he said.
“I’ve just been really lucky to be surrounded by an incredibly supportive group of people that kept believing in me.”
A member of the “Fast8TrackClub” headed by esteemed coach Justin Rinaldi, Riseley credits the environment of the group as the major factor in his resurgence.
“The reason I joined was to be able to train with the best 800m runners in the country and know that with every session I would get a measure of how close I was to running 1:44 again,” he said.
He may soon get a measure of how close he is to running 1:43, with Peter Bol piecing together an unprecedented domestic season that leaves him well within reach of the Joseph Deng’s 1:44.21 national record.
“What Pete’s [Bol] done in Australia the past few months is just insane. I don’t think anyone can really appreciate how hard it is to run 1:44 in Australia not once but twice,” he said.
“He’s definitely capable of being the first Australian to run 1:43.”
Officially selected to his fourth Olympic team earlier this month, Riseley acknowledged the significance of the feat.
“It’s pretty incredible, especially when you look back on the careers of Mottram, Deeks [de Castella] and Monas [Moneghetti] – it’s pretty special company,” he said.
Riseley will be joined by teammate Peter Bol (Justin Rinaldi) and Charlie Hunter (Ben Thomas) to form a strong trio of Australian men contesting the 800m in Tokyo.
By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 17/7/2021
