Athletics: Just turning up not good enough for Smith

By EUGENE BINGHAM

ATHENS - To some athletes, it is enough just to qualify for the Olympics.

But for young Auckland distance runner Kimberley Smith, the fear that she could not perform to her best caused her to consider pulling out of the New Zealand team.

After a disappointing race in London last month, the 22-year-old made a tearful phone call to team managers, saying she did not want to travel to Athens.

"If I was going to run I wanted to run up to my best," Smith said.

For some, the Olympics are a chance to gain experience for later in their careers. For others, just making the team is a crowning achievement.

But for Papakura-born Smith, this was not enough.

Quietly spoken the tiny blonde (she weighs just 49kg) looks fragile, too fragile for the hurly-burly of the world-class athletics scene.

But her results in the past year show she has promise.

Like fellow New Zealander 1500m runner Nick Willis, she is based in the United States on a track and field college scholarship.

This year, she was named the National Collegiate Athletic Association athlete of the year.

Her coach at Providence College, Ray Treacy, picks her as a future world cross-country champion.

This year, Treacy focused her on making the Olympics.

She missed several weeks of training with a sore foot, cause unknown.

She blames the injury for the poor performance in London, where she ran 15m 46s for 5000m - more than 30s outside her personal best.

Athletics team manager Tony Rogers convinced her to rethink her decision to pull out of the team. After discussing it with her boyfriend, she decided to join the side at their pre-Olympic training camp in Nabonne, France, and reconsider.

Once there, she ran a personal best in a 3000m time trial, 8m 56s - 12 s faster than she had gone before.

It was enough to convince her that she should come to Athens.

Now she is here, she is excited about lining up in Friday's 5000m heats.

She got a chance to see the track during the opening ceremony.

"It's such a big stadium and it's pretty scary," she said.

Having overcome doubts, Smith is ready to race.