KEY POINTS:
Beatrice Faumuina's future as an international athlete has been questioned after her ignominious exit from the world championships in Japan.
The Auckland discus thrower was eliminated during the qualifying phase in Osaka where she managed only a modest 55.75 metres.
It was almost 13m below her best and
left the 1997 world champion a lowly 25th in a field of 28 on Monday.
Faumuina, 32, has stated that she intends sticking around for the 2008 Beijing Olympics but some, including her previous coach Les Mills, are unsure whether she is motivated enough to remain competitive on the world stage.
Mills, who guided Faumuina from 1996 to 2000, said medals were won on the training paddock.
He is unconvinced Faumuina retains the enthusiasm required to put in the necessary hours.
Her failure to reach the final in Osaka followed Faumuina's fourth placing at last year's Commonwealth Games, where she had been widely tipped for the gold medal.
"I can only assume she has not been training as hard as she needs to be," Mills said.
"To train at the top you need to put in a minimum of four hours a day. It takes a lot of willpower and determination to do that sort of thing."
Mills cited the example of veteran boardsailor Barbara Kendall, who remained fully committed and devoted the necessary time "to be up there and having a crack at Beijing".
"Obviously it is not on Beatrice's agenda any more to train like that.
"It is a natural progression for people not to have the same enthusiasm for their training. You've seen this with Beatrice consistently over the last seven years.
"That's what we call getting older. It's a natural part of life to lose your enthusiasm for training hard."
As well as a possibly waning appetite for training, Faumuina has had to balance her sporting career around increasing work commitments with television.
She is a presenter for Tagata Pasifika and last year spent two months performing on television show Dancing with the Stars.
Mills said it was fair for Athletics New Zealand high performance director Kevin Ankrom to question whether Faumuina's heart was still in the sport.
"She definitely still has the talent there... but ultimately the question has to be asked, is her heart still in it?" Ankrom told The Dominion Post newspaper today.
"It gets to the point that maybe when you have been to that many championships that you don't get the buzz you had when you were 25.
"Maybe this will be the kick in the butt for her that says `I really want to do this' or `I want to get out', especially when the heat from the media and country comes out," Ankrom said.
Mills understood where Ankrom was coming from.
"That is not an unfair statement, it's perfectly reasonable."
Mills said Faumuina was at her peak for a three-year period from 1997-1999 when she was "basically unbeatable in the world at that stage".
He said he never had any expectation that Faumuina could keep performing at her best year after year.
"It's a pretty hard thing to do, and it does come down to motivation and your physical capability."
- NZPA