Athletics: Newdick looks to seal spot in Olympic team

Decathlete Brent Newdick. Photo / Getty Images

If anyone should feel aggrieved, it's decathlete Brent Newdick. When the New Zealand Olympic Committee announced its initial athletics selections for London, the decathlete was lumped in the same wait-and-see category as shot put prodigy Jacko Gill.

While both had achieved international B standards in their respective events, they also - supposedly - had rivals breathing down their necks for the one such spot available to each country.

Except Newdick (27) had a proven record in senior ranks, having won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, contested two world championships and attained a global ranking of 21st last year with his 8114-point personal best.

Moreover, his nearest rival, Aucklander Scott McLaren, trails several hundred points behind and, aged 30, probably needs a minor miracle to make up so much ground.

But while Gill took the snub to heart and withdrew from Olympic Games consideration, Newdick has forged on undaunted and believes he's only days away from cementing his berth, if he hasn't already.

"Obviously, I was a bit disappointed not to be selected," he shrugs. "I believed I'd met all the requirements set for us to be part of the team. I understand where the selectors are coming from, but it probably needs to be reviewed in future. I couldn't focus on it. I'm confident - and always was - that things would work out and I should just keep doing what I'm doing."

The same weekend last month he was overlooked, Newdick scooped three individual titles - 110m hurdles, long jump and pole vault - at the Australian Championships in Melbourne and attained a second qualifying mark while winning the Australian decathlon crown.

His 8057 included two personal bests - a 7.56m long jump and 48.25m discus - while 49.22s over 400m was just 0.02s off another. The Olympic A qualifying standard is 8200.

"The best thing about that performance was that I had jumps and throws firing at the same time," he explains. "You'll often have one or the other going well but to have both means I'm tracking pretty well."

Decathlon is like a juggler trying to keep 10 balls up in the air at once. Inevitably, it seems, one or two end up on the ground. Newdick's Melbourne outing fell away over the final three events, where he encountered unfavourable winds in the pole vault and javelin, and then cramped in the 1500m while chasing the A standard.

"But I hadn't really started sharpening up, so overall, it was a pretty solid weekend."

The key to Newdick's Olympic hopes may be the vault, where he cleared a personal-best 4.85m at the national championships.

"I've been working on that quite a lot this year and I think there's a lot of progress there, possibly 60-100 points straight away. I'm getting closer and closer to a breakthrough every time. But I've also freshened up and trimmed down a wee bit and, with every kilogram you lose, events like the high jump, hurdles and 400m become a little easier."

He and McLaren are now in Europe on separate campaigns after a tentative effort in Italy to blow out the jet lag.

Newdick withdrew with hamstring cramps during the second day, while McLaren's total was 750 points off target.

Newdick has since moved base to the Dutch city of Apeldoorn, preparing for the world's most famous multi-events meet at Gotzis, Austria, on May 26 and 27.

In a city known as the "Mecca of Deca", he's compiled personal best scores on two previous appearances.

"All the Germans, Dutch, Cubans, maybe some Americans that aren't in the top tier - everyone else will be there.

"I always compete well there. It'll have the best competition in the world, the crowds are amazing and if I can place in the top eight, which is exactly where I finished last year, I know that 8200 is realistic."