New Zealand Javelin thrower Tori Peeters training in isolation at her home due to the coronavirus lockdown on April 23, 2020 in Te Awamutu. Photo / Getty Images.
New Zealand Javelin thrower Tori Peeters training in isolation at her home due to the coronavirus lockdown on April 23, 2020 in Te Awamutu. Photo / Getty Images.
Out of the darkness and into the light.
That's the pathway for New Zealand javelin exponent Tori Peeters, who is aiming for a stellar 2022, after the most difficult year of her career.
Peeters, who is in action today at the Sir Graeme Douglas International in Auckland, broke the nationalresident record at the Capital Classic two weeks ago, with a 60.51m hurl.
That's a good omen, given Peeters is coming off her strength training block and isn't pushed by other competitors in domestic meets.
"It ticked a few mental boxes, being able to throw that distance here," Peeters told the Herald. "I tend to throw further when I am abroad, especially in Australia, when that competitive side of me that comes out. Usually at this stage of the season you are trying to piece everything together, so it's encouraging."
Peeters is already our best female thrower by some distance and has broken her own national record (62.04m) five times in the last two years, despite also holding down a teaching job.
Given those performances and her undoubted potential, she looked a certainty for the Tokyo Olympics team, before a bizarre selection call.
Despite being ranked inside the world's top 32 and one of only 10 women to have exceeded 62 metres in the preceding 12 months, there were late conditions put on her selection, mandating the achievement of a certain distance a few months out from the Games.
It was an inept decision, illustrating a lack of understanding of high performance sport and the vagaries of the event, requiring Peeters to peak when she should have been in preparation phase.
The Southland thrower still managed a 60.15m, despite niggling injuries, but couldn't reach the prescribed 62m (or two distances of 61.50m).
To her credit, Peeters didn't dwell on her plight – "It happened and you just want to move on." She had a holiday, hung out with friends and tried to forget about javelin for a while.
But then the Olympics rolled around.
"Just as I thought I was putting it to bed, it came to the surface again," said Peeters. "I'm hugely invested in sport and I love supporting all my mates who were there, especially the athletics. I couldn't not watch it."
So on Friday August 6th 2021, Peeters was sitting at St Peters College in Hamilton, watching the coverage of the javelin final.
New Zealand Javelin thrower Tori Peeters training in isolation at her home due to the coronavirus lockdown on April 23, 2020 in Te Awamutu. Photo / Getty Images.
"I sat here at work and we had the Olympics on telly," recalls Peeters. "Everyone couldn't believe I was watching the javelin final but I said, 'There's a piece of me that wants to see what these distances are, so I know I was good enough to be there'."
Her throw of 60.15m would have placed seventh in the final, while anything near her personal best – not improbable given the adrenalin of the Olympics occasion, as exhibited by Kiwi swimmers Lewis Clareburt and Erika Fairweather - could have seen her inside the top six.
To her credit, Peeters has turned the challenging experience into a positive.
"There were lessons learned, you identify those and then you move on," said Peeters.
To that end she has prioritised more European competition over the next three years, to test herself against the best.
"The ultimate is the Olympics and wearing the Fern but it's easy to get quite tunnel visioned on that," said Peeters. "But you don't have to wait to be in a team to think you are good enough to go and compete in Europe."
After this domestic season, Peeters plans a training block in Australia, where she stays with 2019 world champion and Tokyo bronze medallist Kelsey-Lee Barber and her husband.
"I get along really well with Kelsey and her coach," said Peeters. "I am really lucky that I can do that."
After some events across the Tasman, Peeters hopes to compete in Europe, to chase qualification for the Commonwealth Games (Birmingham) and World Championships (Oregon).
She's already ranked inside the Commonwealth's top six and her throw in Wellington was only a metre off the A standard (61.50m), while she needs to continue to accumulate ranking points for a world championship bid or reach 64 metres for automatic qualification.
"Javelin has lots of moving parts and it's about trying to piece them all together," said Peeters. "I'm pretty flexible around competitions, but I want to collect as many points as possible, really enjoy what we are doing and then the results will speak for themselves."
