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Australia hit a dry patch in its medal hunt at athletics on Wednesday but it was the background stories that put some ‘life’ into the results sheets at Tokyo 2020.
After five days of competition in which there has been a green-and-gold tracksuit on the podium every night, the sixth delivered a medal drought.
Surprisingly though, from the six Australians in action, two enjoyed season bests and one hit a personal best in the Shot Put (F32) final – Rosemary Little.
Little has made the switch from 100m bronze on the track in London 2012 to sitting in the bronze-medal position in Tokyo in her first major shot put competition. She threw a PB 6.26m but was eventually overtaken to finish 5th.
But she is already eyeing off the 2022 Kobe World Para-Athletics Championships back in Japan. In between Rio and Tokyo she’s survived a spinal tumour and nearly a year in hospital rehab.
“I didn’t think I’d be here in Tokyo. My track coach suggested I make the switch – that was after my year in hospital rehab 2017-2018 with the spinal tumour – and I really wasn’t that keen,” she said.
“Perseverance always wins out in the end though. My neurologist always says if I wasn’t so stubborn I wouldn’t be here.
“I knew I’d probably come around four or fifth and that’s okay because at least I’m here.
“Those girls really smashed the world record in a way no-one has in a long time. So in the end you can only do your best on the day.”
The old world mark (7.04) was held by Australia’s Kath Proudfoot, set in Sydney in 2017, but eliminated with the gold medal-winning throw of Ukraine’s Anastasila Moskalenko’s (7.61) and also by silver medallist Poland’s Roza Kozakowska (7.37).
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While this is Little’s third Paralympics, it was the first for wheelchair racer Luke Bailey and the second for Sam Carter.
Carter nailed the start in the 100m (T54) final after missing the 400m final on Sunday by one spot. He placed 4th in the 100m sprint at the Dubai world titles.
“I got off well but my top speed kind of let me down a bit today. But I was much happier with that race than my heat,” he said of his fifth in a season’s best 14.08 – just 0.21s off bronze,” Carter said.
“I think that’s coming (finding 0.2s) but overall given the circumstances I’m relatively happy with that push. It’s a total buzz to be in a Paralympic 100-metre final I can tell you.”
But the hope is he gets more of that high-quality racing when Covid-19 restrictions ease and he can travel to the European and North American circuits.
“I have some really good athletes domestically to race against but obviously being at a Paralympics the standard is up another level again. It’s really hard to get that at home. So if we could get out and get some competition that would be ideal.”
Bailey missed out joining him in 100m T54 Final finishing 14th fastest after 14.55 in the heats.
“I had a good start but it was such a tough field. It’s still a big achievement being here so I can represent my country – it’s my first Paralympics,” Bailey said.
“I am disappointed about not making the final but there’s always a next time and that’s the Commonwealth Games and then the world championships next year.”
Eliza Ault-Connell is looking forward to the longer distances still in her program – the 400m and Marathon – after finishing 8th in her 100m (T54) final in 17.12s, which was slower than her heat earlier in the day that produced a season best 16.79.
“I honestly don’t know why. All I wanted to do was get out there and try to push a nice strong race. It felt strong but it just wasn’t my day – and sometimes that happens… it just happened on a pretty grand scale – a Paralympic final,” she said.
“These girls are pushing faster than ever and they’re young and they’re fresh and this old girl was having a bit of a hard time keeping up.
“But we’ve got another couple of events to go and honestly I’m more a distance girl. I’ve got to say I’ve been doing a lot of work on that and I’m really looking forward to Sunday (Marathon).”
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Angie Ballard finished 7th in 17.43s in her 100m (T53) final but like Ault-Connell is looking forward to the 400m heats on Thursday.
And the sixth Australian in action was one of the ‘strongest’ even though that can’t be measured by the fact he exited his long jump (T38) final after three leaps – in the event he finished 4th at the last world titles (2019 Dubai).
“It’s one of the strangest, most difficult, but also the most rewarding days I’ve ever had,” said Canberra’s Ari Gesini.
The 19-year-old lost his father Steve in June. He was only 55 and had been one of Gesini’s biggest supporters making the trek to all his competitions – Ari carried a photo of them together in the sand dunes of Dubai into today’s Tokyo competition.
“I came into it ready, feeling good, ready to go. I don’t want to say the emotions got the better of me because that’s not what happened at all,” Gesini said.
“It just wasn’t one of my better days performance-wise. But I’m still really proud of myself that I made it here, and I know I’m coming back… a bit disappointed not making the final three jumps because I feel that was well within what was possible for me.”
Gesini’s best leap of 5.89m was short of his PB (6.16) but the gold medallist Zhu Dening (7.31) broke a six year-old world record.
“It just goes to show the depth of the field that we have now. It’s been a dream of mine since I was six-years-old to be a Paralympian – it’s one of the earliest conversations I remember having with my dad.
“The performance here today, although not what I wanted, doesn’t take my dream away.”
By: Margie McDonald, Paralympics Australia
Posted: 1 September 2021
