Next stop London 2012!!!!

Yesterday I achieved an automatic qualification place at the Aviva Olympic Trials to the XXXth Olympiad in London. The past few years have been a crazy mix of pain and jubilation. In 2008, the last Olympic year, I was 63rd in the UK with a personal best of 15.3 seconds for the 110m hurdles. That is now but a memory and I am running consistent 13.3s which tops the UK ranking lists for this year so far.

It is a dream come true to make the Olympic Games. I remember when London was announced as the host city back in 2005 and I thought how amazing it would be. I never believed I might contend a place to be there but it shows what can happen with a bit of luck, patience and an coach with the right knowledge. Malcolm Arnold, now Malcolm Arnold OBE for his services to Athletics, took me on in November 2008 when I was but a sapling of my current ability and stature. What he saw in me must have been seen with such an innate talent that I am sure all bookies would dream of having the foresight he has! Jason Gardener, my mentor, introduced me to Malcolm after my mother and I met him back in September 2008 and I am indebted to him for that.

Racing with the people I respect the most and have inspired me: William Sharman (L) and Andy Turner (R)

For me personally the Olympic Games will be the biggest moment of my life to date and will bring together the dedication, sacrifice, hard-graft and ambition that I have had burning in me since I was young boy. I have dreamt of being alongside athletes like Andy Turner and being able to challenge for the same ideals and prizes that my heroes of Colin Jackson and David Burghley aspired to and achieved. I hope that I will be able to do proud all those who have supported me this far.

The one thing I hope never to forget is what one of my relations said:

"Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground." - Theodore Roosevelt

Istanbul World Indoors 2012

Although I will not be there, I will do a preview of the World Indoors soon. Keep a eye out!!

Winter Update

So I was handed this video by the Team GB biomechanic this week. It shows my race at the world champs in Daegu quite well so I thought I would share it.

The 2012 season training began in the first week of October and has been going well. I've recovered from the hamstring injuries I had during the past season so I'm really looking forward to the indoor season which begins at the end of January for me. I'm training so much harder this year and don't have the distractions of university anymore. It is so much easier to focus when running is the only thing on the mind.

Here in Britain the pressure on all of us to focus on London 2012 is building day by day but I love it. I have so much motivation at the moment so I can't wait for next year. We had a talk for Team GB last night by Michael Johnson who told us about all the pressures and expectations on athletes at a home Olympic Games. He said as long as we stick to our plans and are sensible, notably staying injury free, we will have a cracking chance to do well. Everyone is counting the days to selection on July 2nd 2012....if I keep it real I think I have a good chance of being competitive come selection day!

Over and out.

Daegu: post Competition

I competed on the weekend and unfortunately didn't make it through from the heats with my time of 13.65 (-0.2ms). The winner of my heat was Jason Richardson, the newly Crowned World Champion.

me in the heats

It was an amazing atmosphere on the night of the final, and I was lucky to get some seats on the finish line. The semi-finals were a clear demonstration of the abilities of Dayron Robles, Liu Xiang and Jason Richardson. It is unfortunate that the final turned out to be a bit of a fiasco with Robles and Xiang clashing arms, resulting in Xiang losing the lead and Robles being disqualified, handing the Gold to Richardson who was originally second. The race was a clear example of pressure affecting the athletes. The time wasn't all that special, and the medals were won in some of the slowest times ever for a world championships. Colin Jackson's Championship Record of 12.91 was not going to be in jeopardy with the strong headwind that they all had to contend with.

I watched them all warm up and it was interesting to watch who was relaxed and how everyone went about their preparation. Xiang was so relaxed and his hurdling was brilliant, though Robles seemed to have the speed at the starts. Richardson was being aggressive and clearly knew that he would have to pull it out the bag to win....and he did just that!


Tomorrow night Dai Greene, who I train with, is in the final of the 400m hurdles. He is in great shape and cruised his heats and semi finals. We shall see!

Here is my heat...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW7EnegfTgk&feature=channel_video_title

And the Final: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVcK5Ss5h5o&feature=related

Daegu: Pre-competition

I am now in the athlete village, ready to compete tomorrow at 9.58am (GMT +8) in heat two. The heats have been seeded well so I hope I have a good chance of making it through to the semi final. It will be the first 3 in each heat followed by the 4 fastest losers that progress. I have Jason Richardson (USA) and Dwight Thomas (JAM) in my heat so it will be a quick race.

Yesterday I had an easy day and went to the stadium where I did a light warm up on the preparation track next door to the main stadium. The surface of the track is so fast to run on so I reckon there will be some quick times posted out here in the sprint events. The stadium itself is enormous, holding over 60,000 people. Should I make it through to the semi or final I will probably have a full stadium to compete in as those races are in the evening. After our various sessions, myself and the rest of my training group had a wander around the facilities and got familiarised with the set up before we go into competition.

Now that the competitions have begun all the athletes are becoming extremely focused, but everyone is in high spirits. I went into the city centre yesterday afternoon to go to the Nike hospitality and saw all the hotshots playing ping pong and chilling out in a comfortable environment away from the spotlight.

There are posters everywhere for this championships and there will hopefully be a really good atmosphere once I get into the stadium. Pressure's on =)

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Leaving Ulsan preparation camp

This afternoon myself and the other hurdlers in the Aviva GB Team (Dai Greene, Jack Green, Elidih Child in the 400m Hurdles. Andy Turner and William Sharman in the 110m) will be making our way to Daegu. Once we are there we will have to settle ourselves into our apartments and then report to doping control in the evening for the blood-tests that all the athletes at these championships have to do. This is the first time that all the athletes, across all events, have been tested together prior to a championships.

Daegu Stadium

In the morning I have my last training session before I race on Sunday (28th) morning in the heats of the 110m hurdles. The track in Daegu will be a blue coloured 'Mondo' surface that apparently will help us run quick times. I'll be off to check that out tomorrow as well as the fabled Nike hospitality zone in town.

Start line of 110m hurdles in Daegu

Daegu 110m Hurdles Profiles. Profile 5: David Oliver

David Oliver (USA), born  24/04/1982. (PB 12.89, SB 12.94)

Oliver, Xiang and Robles....top 3 in 2011.

   With shoulders like mountains, the World No. 1 this year on rankings with 12.94 (the only man under 13 this year), and unchallenged No. 1 last year, Oliver is a man that has a lot of potential. Third fastest hurdler ever, at 12.89 set last year, he is built like a tank. He is only 6ft2in but weighs in excess of 100kg. The hurdles certainly can’t stop him and despite his recent losses, can anyone else stop him? He knows what it takes to race at the speed required to win gold, but can he hold it under the pressure. As the oldest athlete of those who I have profiled, he has some brilliant experience, but not as much as the likes of Robles or Xiang. He won Olympic Bronze in 2008, World Indoor Bronze and won every Diamond League last year.

Ryan Brathwaite (Reigning World Champion), Robles and Oliver battle it out in Daegu in 2010.

    He is also a 7-stride hurdler, and has certainly got the strength to handle it. His lead leg is the fastest and most powerful of any of those in World Athletics at the moment. This speed however can be his down fall though as he sometimes brings it down onto the hurdle. Although his size isn’t necessarily hindered by the hurdles, a slight knock of balance might be the difference between gold and 5th in this race. The four other profiled athletes will know the pressure on each of them to produce clean, technically perfect races to perform to the level needed for the Gold medal. With not much separating them on paper, any technical error might lead them amiss. Oliver knows this.

Oliver running his life best of 12.89 in Paris in 2010, 0.02 behind Robles's World Record.

       He is, on his day, extremely powerful and technically efficient. Once his is moving and gets top speed his can run anyone down, maybe even Liu Xiang. As long as he holds his head, he could be the World Champion and World Record Holder. Like most of the others he has run in Daegu’s Colorful annual meeting, winning last year and this year, beating Robles in the former. He knows the format of the stadium, the track and the weather. This will all work to his advantage. There is nothing better than racing on a track where you have always done well. Robles, Xiang, Merritt and Richardson know Oliver’s abilities and certainly know each others. It won’t be long until we find out who is the No.1 in the World.

Olympic Bronze in Beijing in 2008