WA eyes on Rio spots
The Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games are still 518 days away, but about 100 WA-based hopefuls got a fresh injection of inspiration at the Australian Olympic Committee's Road to Rio IGNITE program at HBF Stadium.
Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller addressed local athletes aspiring to part of the Australian Olympic push next year, stressing the need for the entire team to be united across a range of sports.Chiller, who is the first woman to hold the honour, gave a run down on the athlete's village in Rio, as well as the venues for the different sports.
She also revealed a plan to take about 470 athletes to the 2016 Games, which would be the second largest away team ever. Chiller urged the athletes in the room to leave no stone unturned in the days remaining between now and Rio.
Led by host Duncan Armstrong, who won gold in the 200m freestyle at the 1988 games, former Hockeyroo Rachel Dwyer (nee Imison), Mexico City swimming star Lynette McKenzie (nee McClements), rower Stuart Reside and Sydney sailing gold medallist Belinda Stowell all shared their Olympic experiences.
Legendary swimming coach Laurie Lawrence then entranced the room with his mix of passion and humour, telling the athletes their fate would be decided by their own choices.
“Olympic gold medals don't come easy,” he said. “You have to pay the price.
”The men's and women's Australian hockey sides, which are based in Perth, filled much of the room and included five-times world player of the year Jamie Dwyer.
Dwyer, 35, is hoping to reach a fourth Olympics, despite being left out of the Kookaburras team for the Commonwealth Games last year.
At the other end of the spectrum is WA's Kathryn Slattery, who is hoping to go to her first Olympics after breaking into the Hockeyroos late last year.
“I was really inspired by that and it's really exciting,” the 21-year-old striker said.“There's a lot of hard work to go yet but it's really exciting.“It's not very long, time's ticking.
“I think there's definitely a lot that can happen in a short period of time. “Personally I can improve a lot and as a group we can improve a lot.”
