Hamish Carson wins the men's 1500m final during the New Zealand track and field championships in Wellington in 2014.
Photo: Getty Images
Hamish Carson wins the men's 1500m final during the New Zealand track and field championships in Wellington in 2014.
Photo: Getty Images
Hamish Carson, from Raumati South, is one of three kiwis who will be representing New Zealand in the 1500m track event at the Rio Olympic Games.
Carson, Nick Willis and Julian Matthews will carry the country's hopes in the blue riband event.
The stellar achievement for Carson, 27, comes on the back of a break through running spell which has seen him produce personal best 1500m and one mile times this year.
Carson, who recorded a 3min 36.25s time in a 1500m race in Swarthmore, Philadelphia, in May, is coached by 93-year-old Arch Jelley, who guided John Walker's fortunes through the 1970s and 80s.
New Zealand has a proud history in the 1500m track event with Jack Lovelock, Peter Snell and John Walker winning gold medals, Willis claiming a silver and John Davies and Rod Dixon picking up bronze medals.
"I'm as excited as I am relieved to be selected," Carson said.
Hamish Carson.
Photo: Getty Images
"I've run some good races this year and recorded my best ever times but the Olympic A standard of 3.36.20 was remarkably elusive.
"I was only five hundredths of a second off in my first race of the international season in Philadelphia on May 16 but kept just missing the time in my five other races of the season.
"After my last race in Boston on June 17 recording 3.36.53 and my 5th B standard (under 3.37.2) I had to decide whether to continue chasing the time until the qualification deadline on July 11 or whether to hope that what I'd already done would be good enough and start my Rio preparation.
"I discussed it with my coach and with Nick Willis, who I've been training with a lot this season, and decided to stop racing as I figured if I was to be selected I wanted to be in the best shape possible come Rio.
"Luckily that has turned out to be the right decision as I'm now three weeks further ahead in my training and will have a full eight week buildup for Rio.
"To be selected without the A standard I had to remain within the top 45 ranked athletes during the qualifying period as the IAAF invites the next fastest athletes that haven't achieved the A standard until the field is made up to 45 for three heats of 15.
"It was a nervous wait but in the end I got in with about five places to spare."
Carson was proud to make the team and represent New Zealand at the pinnacle of world sport.
"I remember back in Raumati South School at some stage we had to write down what we wanted to be when we grew up and and I wrote that I wanted to be an Olympian.
"I didn't have much idea of what sport that would be just that I wanted to win one of those shiny gold medals in the biggest sporting event in the world.
"I was involved in a fair few sports growing up, in-line hockey, field hockey, cross-country and downhill skiing, but it wasn't until fourth form at Kapiti College that the others fell away I set my sights on running at the Olympics, preferably in the 1500m.
"It has taken a long time but 13 years on I've finally made it.
"For me, despite all the warnings and crisis, I'm really excited about the Olympics being in Rio.
"I've never been to South America, let alone Rio before but I hear it's a pretty passionate place so I'm sure the Olympic spirit will be alive and well."
Since the last race in Boston, Carson has been training with Willis and Matthews in Ann Arbor Michigan where Willis lives, and now up at 2100m altitude in Flagstaff Arizona.
"We're up here for a little under a month as it's harder training up here and once we come back down we'll have built up extra red blood cells to carry more oxygen around our bodies when we're racing down in Rio.
"On August 2 we will be back in Ann Arbor for a week of faster training before arriving in Rio ready for the first round on the 16th, semi on the 18th, and final on the 20th.
"The competition in the 1500m is very strong but I'll be giving it my very best to make it as far as I can, just as Julian and Nick will be too."
Carson has paid tribute to his mother Julie who "has been my biggest supporter from day one, always making me believe that reaching my goals was possible".
Jelley has also been an important factor and has guided him over the past 11 years "through all the ups and downs and has never wanted anything more in return than for me to do my best".
Over the last eight months Willis has shown Carson "what it takes to be an Olympian and guided me towards that goal".
He is thankful for his running club, Wellington Scottish, who has made the campaign possible after he was cut from the Athletics New Zealand high performance programme last year, which made tight funding even tighter.
"Travelling around the world to train and race is an expensive exercise, one that I couldn't afford on my own, and club members and others have generously picked up the shortfall."
Carson is also thankful his workplace, ecology company Groundtruth, in Paekakariki, has let him have so much time off work.
