After reading that John Steffensen was denied early nomination for the games, I think his response was somewhat reasonable. Having our track season/trials at a different time of year denies our athletes the chance to do a gradual 1-year build-up that mainly emphasizes performing well at just the olympics. Instead they have to be in shape 6months before the games to even gain selection and then build-up again for 6 months for the games themselves. I can understand why things are done the way they are as our summer and winter are at different times of the year compared to the northern hemisphere etc. Its not as much a problem for people in other events such as the marathon where athletes typically do around 2 races a year. The best in the world like Bekele/Geb/El G etc have all done some indoor racing at some point and performed quite well, then gone on to break world records, win world/olympic titles in the outdoor season 6 months or so later. Even sprinters have done so aswell like Maurice Greene etc. Some people might argue that the best athletes don't have to be in their best shape to win a selection trial and they can just 'train through it', but if depth increases in events and they become very competitive then this argument would no longer be valid. What do people think?

the guaranteed preselection was part of the startegies of former eastern block and was part of such a huge success.

teh advantage of not having to perform and having the time to prepare properly is huge,

just think about the Lydiard system deeply and it becomes very obvious.

the likes of Kratochvilova, Koch etc were not even asked to run 400m once during season, just at the olympics or championships.

the olympics times qualifying period usually overlaps with the championship year before so the worlds final performance was as good as any other to post the qualifying A standard time.

so from this point Steffensen has very valid point, however he did not cooperate with selectors before the decision and so it seems it is only his own fault.

In the eatsren block culture the coach of elite athlete was in a permanenet contact with selectors and the athletics body, so everyone was fully inform of the intentuon and the progress and the athlets-coaches wishes were fully respected provided they keep delivering the final results - medals.

I would think, that perhaps few more athletes could be preselected for this reason,

sorry cant remeber the name of female sprinter 100m/100mH from Osaka doing so well - she should have been granted preselection as well in my view,

I do not have any statistics, so the crusial question is this :

in the qualifying olympics period does Steffensen has the A standard time ?

edited - name spelling

Steff performed below the standard required for early selection when competing at the World Champs. Commonwealth Games are an inferior stage so can not really be considered. He really has not run fast enough either. Hopefully this will motivate him to improve. He is still a near certain chance to make the team.

Rudolph with regards to the Eastern block athletes not competing much you can be pretty certain that was because it did not fit into their drug regimes and there was not out of competition testing then. Kratchitilova would have had to be a champion druggy to look and perform the way she did even if she was a male. Koch was later caught for drugs.

Steve this is common respond, however those days everybody was on drugs so it is OK to compare apples and apples.

Kratochvilova, Koch etc were not running 400m during the year however they were competing quite often on shorter distances as speed traing, so they were at every meet running 100-200 or 4x100 , but purely as training stuff had nothing to do with selection or qualifying for games etc. So this takes argument away from hiding from drug testing, they were available for testing each time they run 100-200,
and also those days the out of season controls were common maybe more than today, east Germans had 1 extra girl in the national squat (slower but not taking drugs and she was there purely to piss for all others when the doping control arrive where ever they were training or racing.


so all this drug talks has nothing to do with the fact, trhat the elite - Koch Kratochvilova etc were not forced by the bnational team selectors to run their main distance and not forced to produce qualifying times and compete at nationals or selection trials

The thing that I found most interesting about the two reports on this site was the seeming lack of ongoing "communication" between AA and this athlete.One of the AA wallas said something to the effect of "how are we to know he has a sore leg"?This athlete has been carrying an injury since the World Games,he has attempted to run some races through it and obviously it is still a major problem
for him.It seems a bit like the Lee Troop episode when he came down with severe injury and AA more or less seemed to say well tough luck.I know communication works both ways but AA is the governing body and should be showing a more pro- active approach in assisting the very few world class athletes we do have in overcoming injury and progressing their athletic careers.
If they do so they certainly do not publicise it and I stand ready to apologise if they do.
That said, Mr Steffensen's reported actions re the relay at Worlds etc may have soured his relations with the authorities/selectors.Of course,they would not be so petty as to let that affect their judgement,would they?

National sqaut.....thats gold Rudi, literally golden....

yeah national squat - how else would the girl pee for them ?

Steffensen-No way. He is our number one at the moment and had an excellent World Champs, i think he ran his 2nd and 3rd fastest ever times. But, with guys like Wroe, Grant and Mulcahy and plenty of others coming through, it's hard to justify an automatic selection based on a semi final appearance. After the relay withdrawal, AA owe him nothing. Personally i think only Rawlinson and Deakes should be automatic, although you could mount a good argument for Sally Mc.

IN 1994 i won a silver medal in decathlon at the Commonwealths. This was a jump in performance for me by 200 points yet i needed to deal with an ongoing knee problem. So i returned from Commonwealths with the intention to undergo the operation and have an 18 month buildup for the Olympics. Fortunately i was receiving support from WAIS and AA and was able to follow this approach. It was fantastic, the first time i had done a period longer than one season. My training went to the next level and i was able to qualify twice for the Olympics with a AA performance and win the trials with ease, guaranteeing my selection. PArt of my strategy was to sacrifice my performance at nationals since i had an automatic qualifier already so as to gain maximum time for preparation.

The end shot is this - if you are communicative with the selectors and the administrators they will more often than not understand about sensible plans. Stef pretending an injury so as not to run the 4x4 after he had clearly cracked the shits would not favour him with the selectors. Have a good solid plan and don't be secretive about it.

I believe AA should only give automatic selection to those who won an individual medal at last year's world champs. Keep it simple. unfortunately they have left too much grey matter, yet again, and guys like Steffeson have an argument.


Arms

What if..... Jana didn't medal at world champs, then set world record against people who won medals.

Would there be a backflip?

History I believe shows AA policies have not been as helpful as they could of been.

I go back to USA policy, basically firdt three over the line at USA trials and that seem to have been succcessful.

However one size will never fit all.

John is a Bankstown Sports clubmate. I think he has shown he can do the work, he performs at near world best level, however he needs to get himself better injury free wise. I am not sure if John Smith is the man or maybe John S's body is not up to the rigers of elite 400mtrs running through all the rounds required.

Relay business that was dragged up. I don't know the real story and I am pretty sure either do any coolrunners. Just "chinese whispers" IMHO.

Go the Aussies!!!!!

That is a good positive AA/athlete relationship you experienced,"enter the zone",exactly what we should expect from a body one of whose basic functions is to assist elite Australian athletes to reach their highest level possible.Are you able to say if your experience has been duplicated with other athletes?AA often gets a bad wrap re athlete concerns and it was good to read of your experience.
I have not heard it said before that Mr Steffensen pretended an injury so as not to run the relay,are you sure of your facts?He may have been able to run through the relay race,but at what cost if he exacerbated the injury?His method of withdrawal and associated statements may be evidence of a degree of immaturity,but little else I imagine.

How hard can it be to run a decent 400 during our track season then later in Europe? Darren Clark seemed to manage it okay. I reckon he should just get on with it, and give the locals a crack at him. If he's as good as he makes out he shouldn't have any problem handling them. But of course it's hard to get beaten if you don't race.

I don't know whether Steffenson made up the hammy injury - it just seems very likely based on the circumstances and his attitude post semi. I'd like to know from the inside and i guess this Summer i will run into someone on that trip that might have a better idea. I guess w i wouldn't be saying such things if it was someone other than Steffenson, however, he wants to approach this sport through a fantasy game, and wants to talk loudly and crappily most of the time within this fantasy. So i may as well trash talk him as nothing much real comes out of his mouth. I'm probably correct in the fake injury. He looked fine in the 400 semi. I'm also prepared to go down for saying all of this:)

Dr JH i totally agree with you - how hard can it be to race a decent if not pb 400m over Summer. I'm thinking 2 ways here. If Lydiard is the way then our Summer would be part of the base building period. If periodisation is the way then it should be no problem.

In 1990 at 18 years of age i met Daley Thompson, my idol of course. He was in Melbourne prior to commentating at the Commonwealth Games and was doing some play training at Olympic Park. We were fortunate enough to be able to hang out with him for a while. I asked him one question. What is the most important thing you would say to me right now. He said never go longer than 3 weeks without speed work.

And since this was identical to Efim's (my coach) approach, that idea was locked in from then on. It has never wavered. It is an iron clad rule i would never break except under injury circumstances. It is a key to preventing many problems that would otherwise inhibit performance.

So if this approach is taken the athlete is always within 97% of their personal best. This would mean that Steffenson should be able to run 46.3 whenever he wants to. Sharpen this slightly and you have a mini-peak. Drop straight back into the training pattern after the mini-peak and almost nothing has been lost or risked. Maybe if Steffenson had gone to AA and said i don't want to come up too much for the domestic season because i have the form to pull off a medal, they might have set a standard for him that wasn't to his max. But we are talking about Steffenson. I can't see him coming here and letting himself get smacked by any other Aussie 400m runner like Wroe. Possibly he is trapped by his own thinking?

My respect for this guy was gone after the Comms in 06 when he trash talked Buster. That was total BS, he was running 44.7 in his chosen event, I doubt that in 06 he could have made the NCAA final but the way he blabs you would expect him to be slapping Jeremy warriner on the ass as he goes by at 200m.

I agree with an earlier poster who suggested it can't be that hard to race here in Feb/March and run well in Aug/Sep. Esspecially as he goes on about how great he is. it's not like he is running two marathons 2 weeks apart!

"If you look at the statistics, your boy John Steffensen deserves to be there," Steffenson claimed.

Why does he talk this way.

I agree with enter and others - speed work all year round basically - for any runner wether you want to run to the other side of the oval or other side of the country. It is essential to avoid a lot of injuries (just like the long run is essential to avoid a lot of injuries).

I can see Steffenson's thinking in a way that he does not believe that he will be fast enough in Feb and to me it gives me the impression that he thinks he may get beaten. He may not acutally qualify. But in his mind he thinks that by August next year he is going to be the fastest Aussie over 400m. Which may well be true. It does seem odd to have the trials so far out from the games. is it purely to fit in with the Aussie season? If so that is a poor excuse. What about 12 weeks out from the games. That way you can have a taper and then have time ot get back to top fitness. (10k and Marathon excluded).

I really think that he must be injured OR it is all in his head. As others have noted, you really should be able to run within a half second of your best most of the year. I think a lot of peoples minds make them soft. There is too much psychology involved - and I think unfortunately it is negative thoughts - which will only slow you down.

Steffensen was a boxer before he became a runner, and he is obviously fashioning his personality on that of Mundine. In the light of the latter's recent outburst against Cathy Freeman, Steffensen must have thought he should follow suit and have a go at Glynis Nunn.

Seriously, I think this young man is off track - he has apparently left his coach John Smith and is training with a former drug cheat Larry Wade.

Very good comments today from Raelene Boyle - "My advice to John is to do the hard yards - let his feet do the talking and stop his mouth from running away. He's a very talented athlete, but he's got a long way to go before he's right up there with Olympic finalists material".

Simmo said -'Steffensen was a boxer before he became a runner'

Do you think he could manage to take Glynis Nunn out in the ring ,

The guy should be forced to wear a dog muzzle when racing or training

the facts;
fact 1; Steffensen won commonwealth Games 400m in melbourne 2006 in 44.73 and rightfully won the admiration of thousands...me included...

fact 2; despite nursing a hamstring injury, he made the most of training in USA with Maurice Greenes coach to win in Madrid/go ok in Europe, and managed 44.82 in the World Championships in Osaka a few weeks ago, to miss the final by 9 hundredths of a second.

Comments;
If he had made the final who knows what would have happened, tis guy has showed a pattern of finding something extra when the occasion demanded it... and to miss it by less than a tenth of a second despite an injury interrupted preparation this year, was an amazing effort which should be applauded and respected by all.

To make it to Beijing in the best possible shape, he not only needs to prepare well, and not spend time and money and resources racing in Australia to prove nothing to silly selection processes, he needs to concentrate on best possible prep and getting the hammy fully healed and right....

AA has a history and track record of trashing its best athletes especially the outspoken confident ones who are most likely to go where no Auistralian has gone before, because they cant control world beaters like Steffensen...

Steffensen might be a bit full of himself, and talk him self up a bit, show a lot of youthful exuberance, but its all part of the package, if Australia wants the best in the world, a litlle bit of trash talking should be tolerated, especially when you deliver the goods like this bloke does...

i think AA should take a good hard look at itself and its silly selection processes, and decide what is more important getting all the athletes to jump through the same silly hoops, or giving its best proven world class champions (like Steffensen) every opportunity to do Australia proud at the Olympics, otherwise Steffensen should become an American citizen or South African citizen or maybe Bermuda (the tax breaks there are pretty good...didnt Pat Rafter have dual citizenship for tax purposes...)...and compete for them, they will probably treat him better than our silly organization....

Agree with the suggestion of a special selection trial at a time and place nominated by Steffensen to fit in with his injury management and preparation focus...maybe he shouldn't get pre-seleceted, but requiring him to race in Australia is stupid...why don't both Steff and AA sit down and work out a plan that will work best for both of them instead of trashing each other from the sidelines...

That said, Steffensen may need to focus his fighting qualities on preparing for Beijing whatever it takes, rather than wasting his breath on silly stick in the mud selectors..., so hope he puts this roadblock behind him and gets on with the job...gets the hammy right and shows us what he can do in Beijing...I'll be cheering for him whatever country he races for...I respect his "attitude" of reaching for the stars...even if there may be a little bit of growing up learning to be more tactful to be done along he way....

AA get back in your box take the deserved trashtalk on the chin, restructure your selection processes to help the best athletes get the chance to show what they can do on the world stage, and stop putting up selection roadblocks to the progress of Australian athletics...

http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/steffe...7568333648.html
suggests that the problem is more at AA's end than at Steffensens end, because if AA has abused confidentiality AND defamed Steffensen they are the ones doing most of the trashtalking and waging a vendetta against their own athlete!!!...typical of their track record over many decades...

hopefully a win-win situation can be negotiated and Australias best chance at a medal in 400m Olympics since Darren Clark can get to Beijing with hammy healed, well prepared, and avoiding unnecessary racing in Australian domestic season...after all thats the outcome AA and Steffensen want at the end of the day dont they? I hope so cos if it isn't they have lost sight of what it should be about...

Steffensen has done enough at Athens, Melbourne commonwealth Games, Madrid and Osaka to show he is worth special treatment...

the athletes that succed at world level like Mottram,Rawlinson, Deakes,Jamieson, Saville,Freeman, all Bideaus athletes etc all have one thing in common they all race and train in Europe or USA for a large part of the year, and the Australian domestic season is not a major part of their prep...in many cases its a pain in the neck to their prep...it was merely the stepping stone for them to get to the level they have, Steffensen is well past needing to prove himself in the Australian domestic season he passed that level 1-3 years ago...but if he succeeds in Beijing he might consider sharing the world class performance in Australia in 2009 as an Olympic individual medallist....or maybe we will just have to watch him competing in USA or Europe either way, it would be good to see him in the green and gold...

Steffenson Rocks! Go smash em in Beijing, and get that richly deserved spot on the podium, we will be cheerin for you...however you get there...

Go Steffensen!!!!!!!!

Trailblazer,lots of good comment and trying to see different points of view.I have always been surprised at how AA and its predecessors dealt,or in some cases did not deal,with the very FEW T&F exceptional talents thrown up now and again in Australia.As supposed managers of the sport they never appear to be proactive but rather always reactive to individual athletes problems and needs.
I am sure it is not so,but their approach always gives the impression that they are trying to keep athletes from competing at major events,rather than ensuring that the maximum number do.Maybe it is just a question of insufficient financial resources?
Whilst Mr Steffensen is not yet quite a Darren Clarke,he is demonstrably our best 400m talent at the moment.AA should bend a little and come up with a mutually agreeable path to selection for Beijing.

Rudolph, not sure if Raelene Boyle would agree with that comment. I also do not believe that as many people were on drugs back then as they are now. The difference is that we have closed down the obvious testosterone based drugs and todays athletes are forced to use other drugs at safer levels.

Back to the main point of the thread:
How hard is it to race 400M!!!!
Talk about sprinting Prima Donnas!
You need some fitness to race a marathon but 400M?
Talent will get you to 95% anyway.
Is he suggesting he is not doing any training so cant race? Perhaps he is just sitting around stretching and doing drills for four months? If so he needs to get more than his head together.

Just because he did not get preselection does not mean he wont be selected. And getting preselected does not mean he can avoid racing in Australia. I personally think athletes who make it and never return to Australia to race are selfish. They owe something to their country if they want to represent it at the highest level. That includes marathoners in my opinion. How many times did Monnas race a marathon in Australia? Good on Troopy for running Gold Coast.

When people talk about Athletics Australia it is as if it is the big organisation involved with conspiratory theories. There is a high performance manager and a manager for event groups. There are also selectors and even a CEO who you can complain to or communicate with. If you want to blame someone then blame these people not AA. It is the athletes (written) responsibility to keep them informed of their condition anyway and I doubt Steff is that interested in doing so.

I think Steff needs to get a good dose of reality. He is squandering a great talent on side issues. He should pull his thumb out of his mouth and place it on the starting line.

It doesn't take any fitness to run a slow 400m (trust me, i've done heaps of slow 400's) just like it doesn't take any fitness to run a slow marathon (trust me, i've done slow marathons). To run a sub 45sec 400m would take a freaky amount of fitness (disclaimer, i've never gone anywhere near a sub 45)...give it a crack!

I don't know if Steve "The Footman" had been too close to feet all day when he made his comment.

Easy Tiger I can only agree with you. Athletic performances done at your maxium potential hurts whatever speed or whatever fitness level you are at currently.

Look forward to Steve explaining his rational.

Remember BTW I am a member of same athletic club as John S.

Someone isnt going to have any friends left in Australian athletics by the time he gets to Beijing!

Current time is 4:19 PM Thursday (CST) - Time in Beijing, China. Three hours currently behind Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

Hopefully 8th August 2008 will lucky for him.

This is a bad call from aths Australia. He has shown beyond doubt that he is our number one 400 meter runner. He will make the final and if he keeps improving the way he has in the past a medal chance. But he needs to be able to get some good solid base work in now rather than having to race our track season. If AA wants to lift the crapy profile of athletics they really need to help this guy do everything he can at bejing. He is a superstar.

yeh well said....its just rubbish how the best 400m runner in the country cant even prepare for the biggest race of his life the way he wants to.

Sally McLellan deserved an automatic entry before him and she's not bitching and whinging about it.
It was disgusting the way he carried on in front of the kids at All Schools and he has certainly lost my respect.

if aa had been a bit more proactive none of this would have happened...well said JR....and Ben
JR wrote;
This is a bad call from aths Australia. He has shown beyond doubt that he is our number one 400 meter runner. He will make the final and if he keeps improving the way he has in the past a medal chance. But he needs to be able to get some good solid base work in now rather than having to race our track season. If AA wants to lift the crapy profile of athletics they really need to help this guy do everything he can at bejing. He is a superstar.

Ben 800 wrote;
yeh well said....its just rubbish how the best 400m runner in the country cant even prepare for the biggest race of his life the way he wants to.



sally while a good athlete is not yet ready for a serious shot at medals in beijing but Steffensen is...and that shows how stupid the selection process is...

might be good that the all schools kids saw a sneak preview of the rubbish theyll have to deal with in 5-10 years if they became one of the top 10 in the world...

so no respect from me lost for steffensen as an athlete, maybe should choose time and place/interaction with aa better or be more tactful..or maybe its aa that needs to change its ways...at the end of the day aa is the main problem i suspect...

if he does get a medal in beijing everyone in australia even aa will want to be his friend...in fact they will be begging to be noticed...

before the fed election the image/pr/pc conscious were not sure how positive they should be towards rudd, but now he is pm they all want to be photographed with him..how quickly the wind shifts...

I love reading this stuff,lol.
Regarding steff seeking early selection its a bone of contention and whilst I can see his case and agree in most parts I feel its not just steff being left out thats the issue its a general selection policy issue that has been shown to be subjective rather than objective.

In defense of any athlete seeking early selection I can disagree with there view point of it aiding them in seeking a better championship performance. I competed in the northern hemisphere for a number of years and to hold form and compete at the highest level a big base is necessary and the australian track season does not facilitate this. For instance this year the season lasts in total for elite athletes 7-8 weeks in which they are supposed to find form and post 2 times whilst the rest of the world is prepearing to race in august and working there arses of in the gym and track and not tapering in mid winter workouts. i say mid winter becasue australians 90% or more will compete in a northern hemisphere summer and as such should prepare for that. John is right to win a medal he needs to negate the oz season but not sure about the way he did it and his dialogue with AA. Anyhow had my say