Athletics: Faumuina injury-free and out for gold

Beatrice Faumuina says she has recovered from the injuries that plagued her last year, in what could be a good omen for the defence of her Commonwealth Games discus title.

Nine months after a year-long, injury-enforced break from athletics, Faumuina pronounced herself fully fit and happy with her build-up to Manchester, although a week before competition next Tuesday she was making no predictions about her prospects.

Her below-par performance at the 2000 Sydney Olympics was followed by surgery on her left Achilles tendon.

She returned last October and is delighted with her gradual progress.

"I have to be," she said yesterday. "For me, this has been a really good season. It's been about coming back into competing again and enjoying being on the circuit."



Faumuina famously won at Kuala Lumpur four years ago after a build-up dominated by a sore back, made worse by excessive travel in 1998.

She said the break last year had benefits, because she had to start afresh with her strength and technique.

The 27-year-old Aucklander showed that her best was not far off when she threw 65.05m at a meeting in Sheffield last month.

Since then she has thrown 61.64m in Croatia and 62.09m in Wales last week.

She won at Kuala Lumpur with 65.92m, but has struggled in recent times to go near her national record of 68.52m set in 1997, the year she became New Zealand's first athletics world champion.

Faumuina could not estimate what distance would be needed to win in Manchester, and would not single out who her main rivals would be.

On form, she will start a clear favourite.

She was looking forward to competing in the first week of the Games, a reverse on the traditional order of swimming to start and athletics to finish.

She said she did not feel the pressure of expectation from New Zealand, but was well aware of the interest generated in athletics at each Games.

"Our sport really does host everybody else. In a way, without athletics, the Commonwealth Games or the Olympics wouldn't exist.

"We also need to look at our team now; the diversity and where the focus is," she said.

"It's not just purely track events. There is a fair spread of field events."

One to emerge was 17-year-old shot put sensation Valerie Adams, who won the world junior title in Jamaica last week.

Faumuina said she had nothing to do with Adams' development, but admired her huge talent.

- NZPA