Athletics: Javelin contender on point of big things

Stuart Farquhar has gained a lot of confidence from recent successes. Ian Walton / Getty Images

It bugs Stuart Farquhar that his record on the international stage is not great, but he won't be dwelling on that when he steps on the runway to chase javelin gold on Thursday.

While not seen as quite the same hot prospect as fellow throwers Valerie Vili (shot put) and Beatrice Faumuina (discus), Farquhar still rates a decent chance.

Asked a couple of days ago how many medals he foresaw for his team, Athletics New Zealand performance manager Eric Hollingsworth pitched for five. And gold? "Two, maybe three," he said hinting that Farquhar was the maybe.

Until late January he was barely a bleep on the Games radar.

"We [Farquhar and coach Debbie Strange] planned it that way," said Farquhar.

"There was a lot of hard work done in the latter part of last year but it was not until January I really went after it [the qualifying standard].

"I was never worried about throwing the 77m I needed."

Farquhar had a season-best of just 72m before he unleashed a 77.69m throw in Canberra and 77.12m the following day in winning the national title in Christchurch.

He then returned to Australia and snatched their national championship with the personal best 81.70m which has shot him into Games medal contention.

Last week he confirmed his good form when, in unfavourable conditions here, he won the IAAF Grand Prix event with a 74.95m throw which was good enough to see off most of his likely Games rivals.

"Those throws have given me a lot of confidence," said Farquhar who celebrated his 24th birthday this week. "We timed it well.

"Now I see the Commonwealth Games as my chance to come of age as an international athlete."

He has some ground to make up.

After first representing New Zealand in the 1997 Oceania under-18 championships in Fiji where he finished second, he was 14th and 24th at successive world junior championships in France and Chile.

In 2002 he missed the Manchester qualifying mark by 49cm then made the Athens Olympics team with two B qualifying throws of 77.80m but bombed at the big show, finishing 25th with a disappointing 74.63m.

That was then, now is now. Farquhar is ready.

He hankers to join Mike O'Rourke (gold in Brisbane in 1982) and Gavin Lovegrove (bronze in Victoria in 1994) as a medallist in the throwing event regarded as the most technical.

Farquhar, Te Aroha-born and raised, first threw a javelin as a 12-year-old. His 39m throw broke the school record at St Peter's in Cambridge.

Within a year he was close to 60m.

"You either have the technique to throw a javelin or you don't," he said. "It's a hard technique to develop. I was one of the lucky ones."

After working his way through six or seven javelins - they now come in at around $1400-$1500 a pop - he has his sights set on Lovegrove's 10-year-old national record of 88.20m set in Oslo.

"It took me four years to go from 75m to 80m. Eighty-five metres is not out of the question," said Farquhar. "If I could do that, I would get on to the European tour. That's what I need to really improve."

He has the Beijing Olympics firmly in his sights.

"I have the power, I'm quick enough, all it needs now is to fine-tune my technique."

Starting next week.