KEY POINTS:
He has brought his Olympic medal home - now Nick Willis wants to bring some of his international rivals Downunder too.
The 1500m runner revealed yesterday he has encouraged some top-class runners to face him in a race or series in New Zealand early next year.
Meeting promoters, agents and possible sponsors are in discussion to see if the event can be organised in February or March. "So long as I'm healthy I would like to run at least one race in New Zealand and a couple of people are working with my agent right now," Willis said in Auckland as he prepared for a nationwide tour to talk about his Beijing campaign.
He would like to see as quality a field as possible, though he would not name names. "That's what I'm going to push for - as good as we can get."
Fresh from a holiday with his wife, Sierra, in Fiji, the Hutt Valley-born, United States-based 25-year-old is about to venture on a two-week journey through the country, sharing his medal with school children and athletics fans.
"This is part of the whole Olympic package for me: to come home and share the medal with people so they can see one of their own flesh, a fellow Kiwi who has dreamed far beyond what he could grasp and actually came through.
"There's hope for future kids from backgrounds similar to me - if they're willing to dream, it is achievable to conquer the world."
Willis' incredible dash for the line to clinch the bronze in Beijing was the highlight - so far - of a career which has taken him from the grass tracks and cross country courses of the Hutt Valley, to the nurturing environment of the University of Michigan, to the world.
He showed promise early: after the Games, his father, Richard, dug out a picture of Willis as an 8-year-old being congratulated by running guru Arthur Lydiard following a victory in a local cross country race. Willis remembers the encounter well - he was in awe of Lydiard - and recalls Lydiard telling him he would have a bright future if he trained hard.
And so it has proved. Sure, the rewards have been many, but the training and sacrifices have been great.
"I remember before our bursary exams when everyone else was having end of school celebrations, I was at the Hutt Rec track doing 300m repetitions and wishing I was at the beach with my friends. But I knew I had the New Zealand secondary schools champs coming up and to do well in those would hopefully win me a scholarship to the United States."
The message of sacrifice for ultimate reward is one of the main messages he wants to deliver to his audiences over the next fortnight.
"Sometimes you have got to skip out on the small acts of fun to get the ultimate prize." A committed Christian, he sees his faith life in a similar way. "It's worthwhile making those harder decisions early on, waiting until marriage to live with my wife and things like that."
Willis says his experience also reminds people that things do not always go as planned. He revealed yesterday that about eight weeks out from the Olympics he suffered an injury which kept him from training for about a week. The strained knee tendon was followed by wisdom teeth problems which kept him off the track for another couple of weeks.
It was a low-point of his season, causing him to doubt himself. "But in hindsight, what that did was help me to go back to the beginning and delay my peak. It's a cliche, but it was a blessing in disguise."
In the end, of course, his plan worked almost like a dream. And to cap it off, he finished the season with another four top results including a win over double world champion Bernard Lagat in the prestigious Fifth Avenue Mile in New York.
"Those guys have a greater amount of respect. I'm not just another person from a country they haven't heard of. I'm Nick Willis from New Zealand and I expect to be in the top three in the world."
MEET THE MAN
Nick Willis' appearances in the upper North Island
* Friday, October 17: Tauranga, 6pm. Open Invitational at the Tauranga Domain track.
* Saturday, October 18: Hamilton, 2pm. Porritt Stadium. Willis will watch as relay teams battle to try to break his 1500-metre national record.
* Saturday, October 18: Auckland, 6:30pm. "Go for Gold" Sports Dinner at King's College in The Great Hall. Tickets required.
* Sunday, October 19: Auckland, 9:15am. Willis will be the starter for the schools 5K at the Sir Barry Curtis 10K Classic Road Race.
