Olympics 2024: Tom Walsh aims for third Olympic medal – a journey from Timaru to Paris

Ten years ago, Tom Walsh’s sporting life changed forever.

Walsh – who will seek his third consecutive Olympic medal in Paris this month – has become a titan of the shot put world and one of the best track and field athletes in New Zealand history.

He has been a podium regular and at times we have almost taken his success for granted in a highly competitive sport. But it wasn’t always that way. Walsh was a promising junior athlete – with obvious talent – but it was a big jump from Oceania to taking on the best in the world.

Everything shifted at his first senior international competition. He arrived at the 2014 World Indoor Championships ranked 17th and left with precious metal, with his maiden throw over 21 metres enough to secure a shock bronze medal.

“That was probably the first point where I thought that I could actually compete with these guys,” Walsh tells the Herald. “When prior to that it was a pie-in-the-sky idea. That was the moment where I kind of said to myself, ‘Well, shit,I’ve been able to get into third place and get a medal at world indoors – why can’t I do all this stuff? I guess my career has blossomed from 2014.”

The circumstances made the achievement even more memorable. The competition was in Sopot, Poland, with local hero and double Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski edged off the dais by the then 22-year-old from Timaru, to the considerable displeasure of the large partisan crowd.

“I just remember knocking out Tomasz, who was the Olympic gold medallist in 2008 and 2012, in his home country, in the last round and fearing for my life,” laughs Walsh. “But yeah, from there on out, I started to have the belief that I could match it with all these guys.”

That performance – where he smashed the previous Oceania indoor record – led to Diamond League invitations that season and started a run of success that has never really abated. He turned fully professional in 2017, reluctantly giving up his builder’s belt, and has put New Zealand on the map in male shot put.

Tom Walsh won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo / Photosport

But it hasn’t been easy. Walsh spends up to six months a year on the road, in an unforgiving individual sport where success is measured in centimetres.

“People underestimate the amount of time away from home, from friends and family and stuff like that,” says Walsh. “That takes its toll as well. People think, ‘Oh, shit, you’re going to all these amazing places’. But to be honest, I’m seeing the airport. I’m seeing the hotel, and I’m seeing the stadium and that’s pretty much it. But, it’s only a short time, a short time in the sun. So we try and enjoy it while we can.”

There’s also an unrelenting physical workload, in the quest to match it with the best. His gym numbers are staggering, especially in the off-season when he is building his strength base, with two-hour sessions four or five days a week.

Walsh can bench press 245kg and back squat 305kg. He also managed, during the Covid pandemic, a double trapezius lift of 430kg for three reps, which he admits is the “craziest thing” he has done with a weights bar.

“There’s some pretty good numbers there but they need to be, to have a chance to throw the shotput a long way,” says Walsh. It also makes him one of the strongest individuals in this country.

“There’s probably another 15-20 guys in New Zealand that could do those numbers,” says Walsh, mentioning some powerlifters as well as a couple of rugby props.

There’s been unavoidable wear and tear on his body, though Walsh credits his “amazing” strength and conditioning team, who have ensured he has only missed “maybe 20″ training days in a decade.

Walsh has had a mixed 2024. There was an extended indoor component, which paid dividends: “I threw probably the most consistently over the 22 [metre] mark, that early, ever” but the rest has been a struggle.

The training blocs have been productive, including a month in Athens, Georgia, with all the right metrics but that hasn’t been reflected in competition. He has yet to throw over 21.40m since leaving New Zealand in May and has placed 7th, 5th, 5th and 4th in major meets. Walsh remains confident – saying they have pinpointed a technical issue that meant he was “leaking energy” at the end of the throw after they had made alterations to the start of his routine – but it has been a difficult time.

“Not competing how I want to compete - mate, it was pretty bloody tough,” says Walsh. “There was some serious questions that I was asking myself.”

But Walsh is confident he has a massive body of work to fall back on, keeping him positive ahead of Paris, after bronze medals in Rio and Tokyo. There was the world championship title in 2017 and a bronze in 2019, where he hurled his personal best of 22.90. He has taken out four Diamond League finals, along with five podium finishes at the world indoor championships (including golds in 2016 and 2018 and a silver this year). He’s also unbeaten at Commonwealth level since 2014 and has gold trophies on his mantelpiece from 12 Diamond League meets.

And all this has been achieved during a golden era for men’s shotput, with the sport arguably the strongest it has ever been.

“I really want to fix this issue and solve the problem and be in great shape, which I know I will be in [Paris],” said Walsh. “I’ve got a lot of runs on the board as well. These things don’t take that long. I’m really happy with where the body is at and my numbers in the gym are really good. My power numbers, my sprinting numbers are good, my jumping numbers are good. Now it’s just about the piece of the pie, sorting out making that ball fly and getting all that horsepower that I know I have into that ball.”

Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.