Athletics: Athletes lack fire in belly, says Walker

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Track and field athletes must return to the "hard yards" if New Zealand is to relive the glory days of old, says John Walker.

The Olympic gold-medallist, who has resigned from the board of Athletics New Zealand 18 months into his initial two-year term because of work commitments and his duties as a Manukau city councillor, said the board was doing "the best they could."

"I have not resigned out of frustration, but felt it was right that someone with more time could do the job better.

"I believe the board is in a difficult situation.

"The sport's financial position is not strong, which is understandable. High-profile sports such as rugby, cricket, netball and yachting [the America's Cup] receive the lion's share of any available funding. There is not much left for other sports.

"Athletics need a shop window. While Valerie Adams and Beatrice Faumuina have done well - and they deserve everything they have achieved - the sport needs a high-profile, world-class male runner, preferably over 1500m, to get track and field back in front of the public."

For years, Walker was that person. But, he insists, there was no easy way to the top.

"When I went from juniors to seniors I got my backside kicked," he said. "That made me fight. These days, I don't see that same determination.

"Rod Dixon, Dick Quax and myself did it all ourselves. We trained hard; we begged and borrowed to get ourselves to Europe.

"Sure, it was a little easier to get into meets in those days. Now it is all about the big televised meetings."

Walker said that rather than do the hard work at home and go overseas as proven performers, too many athletes were heading off too young.

"We have lost the grassroots. Athletics needs to look at something like the golf academy set up by Rotorua Boys High School and what that has done.

"But that will only work if you have the athletes who are prepared to put in the hard yards. There are a lot of passionate coaches out there. I'm not so sure that we have the same passion in our young athletes.

"Coaches deserve greater recognition. They need a long-term commitment from the athletes. Only then can they sit down and target the right athletes for the right events.

"A lot of our athletes are too slow for the events they are running. I could have been the best 400m-800m runner in New Zealand for years, but I would never have made it internationally over 800m.

"It did not take me and my coach long to realise I was too slow [at 800m] and had to step up. But that meant more work - something I was prepared to do."

Walker said the sport had suffered from the scrapping of the old club/centre system.

"Clubs were a critical part of our success. You only have to look back to the days of the strong clubs such as Owairaka, Tokoroa, Manurewa, Lynndale and others to see what that rivalry meant."

He found the national championships confusing.

"There is no sense of inter-centre rivalry; no feeling of the huge pride we felt in being selected to compete for Auckland.

"Athletics New Zealand can only do so much. They can address the problems, but in the end it is up to the individuals. Too many have had it too easy and are simply going through the motions.

"At the end of the day, the athletes themselves have to really want it. I'm not sure how many are prepared to make that commitment.

"That is sad and something the sport needs to look at - quickly."