Athletics: Why we keep on missing targets

By Peter Jessup

Sports success at any level is measured in confidence.

At the highest levels it is all about confidence, and the obvious preparation.

The New Zealand athletics team at the world championships in Seville were clearly well prepared. So they must have stumbled on the leap of confidence as all bar walker Craig Barrett, who was to compete overnight, failing to get near expected targets.

Discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina had an injury-interrupted season at home and went away lacking international competition. She admitted after finishing fifth in defence of her world title that she had an attack of the butterflies, and the precious technical excellence she needed flew off with them.

Chris Donaldson, who was to run in his favoured 200m overnight, killed his chances in the 100m with a slow start from the blocks because his posture was all wrong.

Long-jumper Chantal Brunner, middle-distance runners Toni Hodgkinson and Hamish Christensen and thrower Ian Winchester failed to make the top 16, their targets based on their personal best performances. All bar Christensen had their personal coaches at Seville. All had consistently met the top-level qualifying marks, set first by the world body authorities then by Athletics New Zealand, and all had competition in Europe before failing in Seville.

There are three theories commonly put forward for the reason New Zealand athletes have failed to live up to expectation at Atlanta, Kuala Lumpur, and now Seville: one says their heads are not in the right space, that they freak out when in the start blocks and looking at the world stars next to them.

The second is associated, saying that they need more international competition to overcome that.

The third is that they just do not work hard enough, do not put in the kilometres.

Athletics New Zealand does not have a full-time sports psychologist but all have had that psyche-up available to them.

Making more use of the psyching procedure will be high on the post mortem agenda when the team arrive home, with Rogers and high-performance director Steve Hollings to interview the team members individually and collectively.

An Athletics New Zealand selector, Rogers rejects the work theory, as does former Olympic and Commonwealth Games medallist Dick Quax. Sports psychology might help some but ultimately it was for the individual to cope with and overcome the hype, pressure and crowd factor at big meets, Quax said.

And he would not work the athletes harder for fear of over-training injuries and burnout.

"It would undoubtedly help if they had more tough international competition," Quax said.

Athletics New Zealand knows that but does not have the money to send teams around the world between the big events.

Doubtless the problem is a bit of all three. But New Zealanders, always hard markers, should not slag their team of seven from a population of 3.5 million - all seven will probably go to Sydney 2000 - when they go up against the might of the world.

As a measure, South Africa sent 13 athletes and all bar one failed to make a final.