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The pursuit of excellence. It is what all athletes strive for and what sprinter Isis Holt almost gave away.
After four intense, but highly successful, years in the 100m/200m cerebral palsy class (T35) Holt felt burnt out.
She won the sprint gold double at both the 2015 Doha and 2017 London World Para-Athletics Championships, silvers in both at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and the 100m gold at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
“I needed a break. After the Commonwealths I had nothing more to give,” she said.
So the Tokyo Paralympics were not on her radar – at all. But here she is in Japan, fit, determined, ready to run. She was only 14 when she won her first international medals in 2015 and only turned 20 just a month ago.
“I took the rest of 2018 off and all of 2019 so I could finish Year 12. I did no running through all that.”
The turning point was watching a video replay of her London 100m race. She had never watched any of her races. It lit a spark inside her.
“I love running. I love being fit. And now that I compete just for medals, the Paralympic gold medal is the only one missing to complete my set,” Holt said.
“For me I find that constant, competitive search to master what you do, addictive. There’s a part of me that wants to run the perfect race,” she said
“There’s always things that can be better. So I want Tokyo to be as close to perfect as I can get.”
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From a little disillusioned to very determined. How did that happen?
“It’s come from me, my coach (Paul Pearce), and a lot of work with sports psychs at the QAS… just working with good people who know how to really nurture an athlete. It’s made a huge difference to how I approach a comp,” she said, knowing the pressure she is again under in Tokyo as current world record holder of the T35 100m.
Holt will be the first member of the Australian athletics team to compete in the Tokyo meet.
Heats of the 100m start on Friday morning (27 August) with the final around lunch time, and she can’t wait to execute her and Pearce’s race plan with all its intrinsic elements.
“We break it into three parts. You’ve got the start and getting that right – pushing of the blocks with great acceleration in those first 20 to 40 meters. The mid-part of the race for me is about being tall and getting my hips up, and relaxing my arms so my legs turn over, without being tense.
“The last part of the race is about holding form as best you can. That’s even more relevant to the 200m, where fatigue sets in. It’s about staying up, staying strong and going forward.
“Then there’s the breathing. In the 100m it’s about going into ‘set’ on the blocks by sucking in air, holding my breath, so when the gun goes off, you exhale and go.
“In the 200m, which I’ve been working on a bit, when you come around the bend you get to a point where the bend becomes the straight. You hold your breath for a couple of strides as you come onto the straight, you exhale, and the feeling is unreal.”
Watch the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games live and free on Seven and 7plus from August 24 – September 5.
By: Margie McDonald, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 26 August 2021
Image: Isis Holt wins silver at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games
