Toni Jeffs: Dangers in straying off Lydiard's path

COMMENT

I bet American Mike Melvill never thought he'd pilot the first private mission to outer space. Just like there was no way I'd ever write a newspaper column.

But there's nothing like a new frontier to pump adrenalin through your veins.

Twelve national 50m freestyle titles in the last 15 years and two Commonwealth Games medals - so I know I can swim.

And my clients tell me I'm a demanding but fair trainer. So, I believe I'm a good communicator.

But lately I've been doing lots of reading because the Olympics generate plenty of stories.

I've read stuff about living in a Commonwealth Games village, competing at a first Olympics. I've seen stories with quotes from "big names".

But many seem frivolous - or what some might call "wallpaper". They seem dramatic but they are so far from an athlete's reality that I struggle to get past the headline.

They seem to skirt the issues that really matter. I'm worried about New Zealand sport.

I was fortunate enough to have some great role models - Peter Snell was a bit before my time but John Walker wasn't.

In swimming Sylvia Hume, Anthony Mosse (he gave me a hug after my swim at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur - a special moment), Anna Simcic, Paul Kingsman and Danyon Loader were great competitors. They worked hard with little support.

But sport is in real danger, especially the Olympics. After all, Olympic gold is the ultimate prize.

There was a raw sense of training. The mileage work of Sir Murray Halberg, Snell and a recent example in Loader, the double gold medallist at Atlanta.

What are we doing now? Some of our athletes seem to have strayed from the simple but effective path Arthur Lydiard blazed.

Blame it on modern living but many of our children are obese. They don't have the self discipline and parental support to stop eating junk food.

Maybe our current stock of athletes don't have the self-discipline to train hard. Perhaps they're lost in high-tech foods, sports sciences and incompetent coaches. I've had a few - incompetent coaches. And, what about the pressures of our modern lifestyle?

Like poor Soulan Pownceby, I went through the media gauntlet in 1992. Soulan had every right to expect membership of the Olympic team: nothing in the rules suggested otherwise.

Funding is always an interesting issue - one that nobody wants to raise.

I wish Grant Dalton was in my camp - $30 million plus from the Government, another $30-plus million from Emirates and a few more million for petty cash.

I would have been happy with the interest on the interest on that lot.


It's a pity the America's Cup is such a small global event compared with the Olympics.

So in Olympic year let's embrace what's shaping to be a great event. Especially for some of our women athletes.

We are likely to have an all female medal count - Sarah Ulmer, Barbara Kendall, Valerie Adams, the Evers-Swindell sisters, Jessica Beer, Hannah McLean and Heelan Tompkins.

Soulan might also gatecrash the all girls' medal party.

* Toni Jeffs is a Commonwealth and Olympics Games swimmer.