Trojan Newsletter - USC Trojans

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The following are some highlights of the performances of our Trojans (past, present, & future) during this exciting Olympic year.

USC swimmers & divers were hard to miss this summer.

If you followed the Olympics or Olympic Trials, you couldn’t turn on NBC, pick up a newspaper or check a sports web site without seeing coverage of the Trojans.

There were 18 swimmers and divers from USC representing seven countries at the Olympics in Athens and they won a combined 12 medals (five gold, three silver and four bronze). Additionally, there was Trojan head coach and U.S. women’s head coach Mark Schubert, his wife Joke, the Americans’ head team manager, and USC head diving coach and U.S. assistant diving coach Hongping Li. Former USC All-American Teri McKeever was also a U.S. women’s assistant coach.

Among the group of medalists, Kaitlin Sandeno stood out with a gold on the world-record breaking 4×200 freestyle relay, a silver in the 400 IM, a bronze in the 400 free and a fourth-place finish in the 200 fly.

Sandeno’s anchor swim in the relay helped the U.S. break the oldest record on the books and the last of the East Germans oft-questioned times from the late 1980s.

A few days earlier, she came within 0.12 of Ukrainian winner Yana Klochkova in the 400 IM, but her time of 4:34.95 was by far a personal best and shattered Summer Sanders’ 12-year old American record. It was the third-fastest swim ever in the race.

She then took third in the 400 free in 4:06.19, less than a second off Laure Manaudou’s winning mark. Sandenoâ€(tm)s time made her the third-fastest American ever and the sixth fastest ever.

Sandeno almost won a second bronze in the 200 fly, but touched just 0.14 out of third place. She was one of five female USC swimmers and divers at the Games and all either returned home with a medal or made at least one final.

Both former All-American Lindsay Benko and current freshman Rhi Jeffrey earned gold medals after swimming the prelims of the 4×200 free relay. Benko also earned a silver after swimming on the 4×100 free relay in prelims.

Diver Blythe Hartley won bronze on 10-meter synchronized diving and she was fifth on 3-meter springboard. She also competed in 3-meter synchro.

Sophomore Kalyn Keller barely missed a medal in the 800 free, taking fourth in 4:09.83 (less than a half second behind American teammate Diana Munz). Keller was also 10th in the 400 free.

Kalyn’s brother, Klete Keller, provided perhaps the most dramatic moment of the swimming competition.

Klete anchored the Americans’ 4×200 relay against the favored Australians. His teammates gave him a 1.48 second lead, a cushion he needed against the fastest 200 swimmer of all time, Ian Thorpe.

No slouch himself, Keller established himself as the fourth-fastest person all time in the 200 free when he took fourth behind Thorpe, Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband and teammate Michael Phelps, the only swimmers ever to go faster than him.

But not long after Keller began his final leg, Thorpe pulled right up to his shoulder and looked poised to pass him. But Keller held firm after Thorpe’s speedy first 50 and actually out-timed Thorpe over the next 100 meters. In a sprint to the wall, Keller and Thorpe were virtually deadlocked but Keller held him off and out-touched the Aussie to set off a delirious celebration among the Americans.

Klete’s relay swim overshadowed his individual medal, a bronze in the 400 free in which he lowered his own American record to 3:44.11, finishing behind only Australians Thorpe and Grant Hackett.

Like Sandeno, sophomore Larsen Jensen and former All-American Erik Vendt turned in spectacular silver-medal performances.

In the 1500 free, Jensen squared off against world record holder Hackett, who, with compatriot Kieren Perkins, have dominated the event.

Jensen, however, remained in striking distance of Hackett throughout the race and began reducing what was at one point almost a four-second deficit about halfway through the race. Jensen eventually pulled to within 0.16 with 100 meters to go before Hackett sprinted home for the win.

Jensen’s time of 14:45.29 obliterated his own U.S. record, was the sixth-fastest ever and made him the third-fastest person in the event behind only Hackett and Perkins.

Vendt repeated his silver medal performance in the 400 IM from Sydney. While Michael Phelps reset his world record, the battle was for second between Vendt, Hungarian Laszlo Cseh and Italian Alessio Boggiatto.

Vendt was seventh after 100 meters of butterfly and third at the halfway point after the backstroke. He closed the overall gap after the breaststroke, but actually dropped to fourth. Vendt motored on the freestyle, pulling into third at the 350 mark before he reeled in Cseh and erased a 0.51 deficit in an underrated come-from-behind performance. It was the ninth-fastest swim of all-time.

Former Trojan star Lenny Krayzelburg, a three-time gold winner in Sydney, barely missed winning another medal in the 100 back, touching 0.03 out of second and 0.02 out of third. But he did earn his fourth career gold after swimming the prelim leg of the 4×100 medley relay that eventually won gold.

Another former USC All-American who won a medal was Gabe Woodward, who qualified for the U.S. team on the 4×100 free relay. He swam the leadoff leg in the prelims and earned bronze when the Americans were third in the final.

Junior All-American Ous Mellouli (Tunisia) was a finalist in the 400 IM, taking fifth in 4:14.49. He also swam the mile. Second-year Trojan Viktor Bodrogi (Hungary) swam the 200 back and teammate Gergeley Meszaros also made the team as a relay swimmer, but did not race.

Other former USC swimmers that competed included Ahmad Al-Kudmani (Saudi Arabia), Rodrigo Castro (Brazil), diver Justin Dumais, Josh Ilika (Mexico) and Tamas Kerekjarto (Hungary).

Olympic Trial Highlights

Kaitlin Sandeno also dominated the U.S. Olympic Trials, winning the 400 m free, taking second in the 400 m IM and the 200 fly and taking third in the 200 m free. She was also sixth in the 800 m free.

Kayln Keller was second in both the 400 and 800 free while Jeffrey was fourth in the 200 m free.

Larsen Jensen won the 1500 m free and was second in the 400 free while Vendt was second in both the 400 IM and 1500 free. Lenny Krayzelburg was second in the 100 back while Klete Keller won the 400 free and was second in the 200 free. Lindsay Benko was second in the 200 free.

Senior Paul Fahey was a 400 IM finalist while former swimmer J.D. Abercrombie was a two-time fly finalist. Gabe Woodward was sixth in the 100 free.

Thorpe ready for wedding

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OLYMPIC superstar Ian Thorpe flew to Perth on Saturday to help teammate Todd Pearson celebrate his last weekend as a single man.

Clad in jeans, T-shirt and baseball cap, Thorpe formed part of the blokey contingent in town for Pearson’s buck’s night - but not in an official capacity.

“I’m not Todd’s best man,” the swimmer said. “I’ve just come here a bit early so I can have a few days in Broome.”

Sydney gold medallist Pearson is to marry longtime partner Alisa Rowles next weekend.

He was not at the airport to greet Thorpe, who sped off in a hire car with another man.

Swimmers Grant Hackett and Michael Klim are also thought to be making their way to Perth for the wedding.

Pearson’s coach Grant Stoelwinder said he was looking forward to attending the wedding but would miss the buck’s night because he was at a swimming meet in Brisbane.

But he said there was no way he would miss out on seeing his star student get married.

“It’s a big time in Todd’s life and he’s very excited,” Stoelwinder said of the nuptials.

Stoelwinder said Pearson declined to talk to the media because it was a private event.

Thorpe and Pearson recently won silver together in the men’s 4×200m freestyle relay at Athens.

An agent: licensed to fill the gap between the rich and the rest

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A gold no longer guarantees untold riches, so swimming has to build a future for its stars or risk losing them, writes Michael Cowley.

They are the moneymakers. The deal brokers. The men who attempt to turn Olympic gold medals won in the water into monetary reward. But, somewhat a victim of their own success, agents are finding their job an increasingly difficult one.

In recent times, a Games gold left sponsors salivating over a shot at having the athlete endorse their product. It still happens at the top end of the scale, but athletes can no longer take winning gold to mean they will be financially set for life.

Estimates are that just two - Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett - make more than $1million a year from sponsorship. A handful earn over $100,000 and up to $500,000, while the rest make under $100,000 - in most cases it’s under $50,000 and in some under $25,000.

Elite Sports Properties’ Rob Woodhouse knows there is a “massive” canyon between the top money earners in swimming and the rest.

“There’s probably just two that earn millions, then it’s a massive drop, to probably another five or six who earn over $100,000,” Woodhouse said. “But there’s a ‘breed’ of girls coming through and established guys like Michael Klim, Matt Welsh and Geoff Huegill, and they do OK. Then there’s another gap to the next level of guys and girls, like Jess [Schipper], Libby [Lenton], Alice [Mills] and Brooke [Hanson] and they … will make a living out of it but it certainly won’t set them up for life.”

One of Robert Joske’s clients at Duet Management burst onto the scene earlier this year when he handed his place in the 400metres for Athens to Thorpe. For the announcement Craig Stevens picked up a six-figure contract with Channel Seven, but Joske knows that finding lucrative contracts for swimmers is not usually that easy.

“I don’t think swimming is any different to most sports, where the elite few at the top make a significant amount of money and others who do it purely for the love of the sport,” Joske said.

“It’s incredibly important … you take advantage of the small window of opportunity around an Olympic Games. As far as making some money, these kids have to perform very well, and these days even a gold medal is not enough to guarantee income.

“The Australian team is so strong these days, not only do you need the gold medal around your neck, you need the looks, the personality, the drive and the ambition to succeed in the corporate market place. It’s tough.

“I think they will always need government support and corporate support to maintain their position in the sport. And most are living a pauper’s existence.

“The fact our swimmers are getting older and able to compete into their 20s means we really need to work hard to find a way these kids can survive above the poverty line.”

Grand Slam’s David Flaskas, who boasts Thorpe as a client, believes the disparity in earnings among swimmers is one of the issues the sport needs to address.

“We have to make it economically viable for these kids to stay in the sport to fulfil their potential,” Flaskas said. “I think in this sport there is some responsibility with FINA to promote the sport.

“[It] is not the poor brother or sister of athletics any more. This sport stood up in Athens as the main show, not just here in Australia but in Asia, Europe … and even now in the US it’s making a significant impact.

“Athletics was tarnished and there were so many superstars in the pool, I think there should be a total review of swimming. There are opportunities to encourage corporates and multi-nationals around the world.

“The biggest difference between athletics, soccer and swimming [has been] corporate support and being able to put on events - look at the Golden League in athletics and look at what [athletes] get paid. Why shouldn’t swimmers be entitled to that? It’s time to move forward and FINA has a responsibility now to create those events. These swimmers are every bit as great stars as [in] any other sport.

“The greats in sport deserve to be rewarded but what’s concerning me is that some really promising kids aren’t being rewarded because it shouldn’t all just be around sponsorship. I’ve spoken to a lot of the Australian athletics team, who aren’t as high profile as some of our swimmers who are struggling commercially, but the athletes do very well by running in Europe every season.

“Why can’t we have that instead of competing for a pittance? That’s where I think there should be a total revamp of the sport. The sport’s got to take some responsibility because there’s no doubt its value is rising.”

Having Thorpe on your books has its benefits but Flaskas also says it has its negatives.

“Obviously he’s a huge name, but I hope people who come [to us] don’t have [inflated] expectations, because it doesn’t work like that. He is our greatest Olympian of all time. What it does do, though, is give us some credibility.”

Woodhouse feels that if she chooses, 100m gold medallist Jodie Henry has the potential to be alongside Hackett and Thorpe on the rich list. “While there’s a lot of interest in Jodie, and she could certainly go down the path of the Hacketts and the Thorpes, it depends if she wants to,” he said of Henry, who is on a break.

“She might be perfectly happy to sit back and have some very good sponsors, but really not go down that path. It’s up to her.”

Henry joined ESP only in July. She was part of a three-way move by three of the most marketable women in Australian swimming who each won gold in Athens, with Lenton joining Grand Slam and Mills joining International Quarterback.

“That was just the way it panned out,” Woodhouse said. “We don’t go after athletes.”

Octagon has just one major Australian swimmer on its books in Klim, but, among other international swimmers, it also has Michael Phelps. Octagon’s Justin Cohen explained it looked to represent only the top two or three athletes in each sport.

“We are not about signing a host of athletes with the hope that one of them is going to become a champion,” Cohen said. “We are very strategic in who we want to work with. We take great pride in identifying who the athletes are that are coming through, and talking to those athletes with the hope and expectation of working with them throughout their careers.”

And while the young, fit, clean-cut image of our swimming team is a “huge, huge bonus” for finding prospective sponsors, it can have its drawbacks, according to Joske.

“You can never underestimate how mature the young athletes are … but it’s a double-edged sword,” he said. “While they are mature, they are still very young and it’s hard for a sponsor to go out and tout that this product is being endorsed by a 16-year-old … it just doesn’t have much validity in the marketplace.”

Champions back in the pool

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Twenty Olympic swimming champions are expected to hit the pool in Brisbane next Saturday for the Australian Short Course Championships.

But for those expecting to see the big stars in action, think again. Jodie Henry, Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett are all enjoying a well-earned break from their Athens campaign.

Organisers report the five-day-meet, which will be held at the Chandler Aquatic Centre in Brisbane’s south, has attracted more than 1900 individual entries from 546 swimmers representing 144 clubs.

And despite the big guns’ absence there will still be plenty of drawcards in the mix.

`Quick Chicks’ 4×100 metre freestyle gold medallist and world record holder Libby Lenton, 19, is just one of the remaining big names, joining 100m breaststroke silver medallist Brooke Hanson and Matt Welsh in the line up.

For Lenton and Welsh the championship offers a chance for redemption after their sometimes disappointing Athens performances.

Lenton, who went into the 100 metre freestyle as the world record holder, failed to make the final.

While Welsh, 27, a silver and bronze medallist at the Sydney Olympics in the 100 metres and 200m backstroke respectively, finished fifth in the 100m final and missed out on the 200m finals.

Australian Swimming boss Glenn Tasker said organisers were excited by the influx of entries and the obvious flow on from the success of Australian swimmers in recent years.

“I’m sure we will see some new faces emerge and I know they will be buoyed by the success of the team in Athens,” he said.

He said from the event Australian Swimming would name a team of up to 30 to contest the FINA World Short Course Championships at Indianapolis in the United States from October 7-11.

Sadly in need of a five-ring fix

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LIKE a marathon runner crash-tackled by a mad Irishman, I’m feeling dissatisfied and just slightly cheated.

The Olympics may have finished but I haven’t finished with them.

I fear I’m suffering from Post-Olympics Depression, or POD. My wife calls me Rod with POD, and I fear I’m not alone.

In Brisbane, we have a history of slipping into a celebration slump. After Expo 88, Expo Anonymous was set up to deal with those who suddenly found their lives missing something once they could no longer queue outside the New Zealand pavilion six hours a day.

What does one do in one’s life when chicken dancing goes from being compulsory to cliched overnight.

Back then, the Queensland Council of Churches came to the fore and established a telephone support line for Expo addicts.

The dispirited and the downhearted tried to soften the blow of going cold turkey from the artificial snow of the Swiss pavilion by snapping up Expo souvenirs. You may not be able to take a monorail to nowhere, but you could always rewatch your Expo video or cover your sleeping grandmother in cornflour and pretend she was one of those statues.

Cynics scoffed when extreme Expo enthusiasts testified they had emotional breakdowns after those musical high divers took their last plunge.

Doubt or deny it, the reality remains that during Expo 88, fewer people sought treatment at our public hospitals. Who had the time to queue at the RBH when we were all busying queuing on the south side of the river?

Perhaps our current political competitors could learn some lessons from the experience. If you want to cut hospital waiting lists, simply encourage people to spend their time waiting somewhere else.

While I had youth on my side to help me endure the end of Expo, the end of Olympics has hit me hard.

They may not have been the best Olympics ever. Actually, they may not have even been the best Athens Olympics. But for 16 days, my life was complete, with a purpose defined by a desire to go stronger, faster and further and dictated by the Channel 7 programming directors.

When Tony Squires told me to stay tuned, I did just that. When Rebecca Wilson told me you wouldn’t believe what a fantastic day she was having hanging out with the athletes, I did my best not to believe her.

No longer did our house begin its morning ritual with a few hours of ABC Kids. Instead, it was straight on to women playing handball, volleyball, shotput or any other sport with balls just to get the blood flowing.

Blind, was I, to the sight of a desperate toddler wondering why the remote control, which strangely had lost its batteries, would no longer put the television on to Channel 2. Deaf, was I, too, to the pleadings of my small child demanding to know what had happened to Bananas in Pyjamas.

“They’re dead, kid. The rat ate them,” I informed her.

“You think that sucks, wait until you see the score the judges have given the Russian gymnasts.”

Not that switching our telly on to the Olympics all day and night prevented all forms of family bonding. Throughout the Games, I instructed my daughter on how to put one’s fist into the air and yell “Go!”

We yelled “Go!” for Jana, we yelled “Go!” for Petria, we yelled “Go! Go! Bloody Go!” for our women rowers.

My daughter’s best friend, a 21-month-old girl with a keen sport spirit, even managed to master “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi”, which for someone under two is quite an impressive thing to say, even if it’s just damn annoying for anyone over two.

For me, during the Olympics, too much Olympics was never enough. It didn’t have to be an event involving Australia. It didn’t even have to be a sport – I tuned in to watch the equestrian, for crying out loud, in which the horses do all the work and the person going along for the ride gets all the credit.

I even became addicted to the white-water races, where a group of plucky paddlers start at one end of a torrent and do their best to get the other end. As if they had any choice in the matter.

Now, if they had paddled upstream, there’s a sport.

My passion for the Games knew no limits. I watched Grant Hackett’s great victory every time Channel 7 showed it, on the hour, every hour, or at least the small bit they were willing to repeat without wasting valuable broadcast time on one of the greatest swims in history.

I even tuned in first thing in the morning, knowing the pain of putting up with the antics of the Sunrise set would be rewarded by the sensibility of our Hayley Lewis and an Athens update.

But, I have discovered a solution to my sorrow. In the last days of the Olympics, I shoved a tape in the VCR and poked the record button like a man possessed.

I taped snippets of cycling, bits of badminton and hours of hurdling. Now, whenever I feel the need for a five-ring fix, I just randomly pop in a tape of an event that I don’t particularly care about which finished long ago.

It’s just like watching the real thing.

Brisbane cheers Olympians

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BRISBANE has turned on a magnificent reception for Queensland’s heroes of Australia’s most successful Olympic campaign.

The Olympic medals sparkled under Brisbane’s blue skies as thousands crammed the inner city streets and thousands more cheered from office buildings.

Swimmers Grant Hackett, Jodie Henry and Leisel Jones were among the crowd favourites as they weaved their way through the inner-city streets to Parliament House.

Triathlete Loretta Harrop say she was overwhelmed by the crowd’s response.

Queensland athletes won a third of Australia’s 49 medals.

Hackett has will to climb Everest

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GRANT Hackett’s ailing body will be given a three-month rest before Queensland’s distance swimming icon sizes up an Olympic three-peat that is “beyond Everest”.

The chest infection which Hackett so bravely defied to win Olympic gold in his pet 1500m freestyle in Athens was still afflicting him when he arrived home yesterday.

Visiting his thoracic specialist on the Gold Coast, returning to full health and a taste of life on land will be his priority during his longest break from the pool in eight years.

“Grant is absolutely wiped out. He needs two to three months out of the water to get his health right,” coach Denis Cotterell insisted at Brisbane Airport yesterday.

“Through both his Olympic experiences he’s been ill so the emotions have ranged through harrowing to memorable and courageous to dramatic.

“I’m proud, Australia’s proud of what he did in Athens. He was barely able to drag his own legs on to that starting block to celebrate after his race so much did he put in.

“The thing is he still has the hunger to go again for Beijing.”

No male swimmer in the 108-year history of the modern Olympics has won gold medals in the same event at three successive Olympics, which is now the tantalising target for Beijing in 2008.

“It’s an athlete’s Everest. In light of how many people climb Everest these days, it’s beyond Everest because no male swimmer has ever done it,” Cotterell said.

Even allowing for a draining 40-hour flight from Athens and a week of partying, the broad-shouldered Hackett was clearly struggling for breath at Brisbane Airport.

“My chest infection is no better yet. There hasn’t been time to recover with a busy second week of commitments, partying, of course, and travel,” Hackett said with a smile.

“Once I get four weeks to myself without doing anything, find a secluded place for a few books and DVDs, I’ll be able to regenerate 100 per cent mentally and physically,” he said.

“The body can get back to full health for next season, no worries.”

Hackett hasn’t put a dent in “his” 1500m world record since 2001 but his hunger to lower the mark of 14min34.56 sec below 14:30 is still powerful within.

Hackett says he can go faster

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HOW fast can Grant Hackett go? Nobody knows, not even him – but the two-time Olympic champion is determined to find out.

After being one of the first to disembark from the jet that flew Australia’s Olympians home from Athens yesterday, Hackett revealed his plan to push his 1500m limits by skipping all other events at a major meet.

But first he plans to take a two-month break, his longest rest for eight years, to let his body recover. He will seek medical help for asthma and the chest infection that has lingered and affected his Olympic preparation.

“I’d like to finish my career having reached the highest pinnacle I can, by making the 1500m my sole focus some time and not doing all these other events,” Hackett said.

“I can definitely take more off my world record – a lot more. I have no doubt about that. I’m by no means putting pressure on myself, it’s just the belief I have in myself.

“I’ve spread myself a little bit thin over the years by trying to do sprint events at the same time and that makes it difficult to get everything I can out of that 1500m.”

Hackett’s dominance of the 1500m since 1997, making him the multiple world champion and Olympic champion and world record holder, is extraordinary given that he usually swims the arduous race at the end of a long program that includes the 200m and 400m freestyle and 4×200m relay.

His world best of 14min 34.56sec has already been described as “insane” by American Olympic silver medallist Larsen Jensen, but both Hackett and his coach Denis Cotterell believe the mark can be lowered if he’s fresh for his pet event.

Hackett’s world record, set at Fukuoka in Japan in 2001, compares to that of former distance king Kieren Perkins’ best was 14:41.66.

Before the Sydney Games, Hackett famously wrote his goals on the back of his toilet door at home. He refused to reveal what they were at the time, and he’s still avoiding specifics about his ambitions.

“I’m not going to limit myself by nominating times or anything like that,” he said.

“I never thought I’d do 14:34 and I did. I thought I’d maybe do 14:38 or 14:39 that day and I went nearly five seconds quicker, so I don’t want to limit the possibilities.”

Cotterell added: “He’s got more to show yet, that’s definite. I’ll tell you this – he’s ready to go a lot, lot faster in the future.”

Hackett, who swam at Athens after battling a chest infection since last November, said he was not surprised that Jensen had pushed him to the limit in a gripping 1500m final.

If Hackett wins in Beijing, he will achieve the rare feat of claiming three gold medals in the same Olympic event, an achievement made famous by Australia’s Dawn Fraser.

Hackett urged to stick with current program

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Australian swimming head coach Leigh Nugent is encouraging Grant Hackett to continue racing three individual events, despite his ill-health.

Hackett plans to have a three-month break from swimming as he is still recovering from the chest infection that affected his preparation for the Athens Olympics.

Nugent said Hackett should continue swimming the 200 and 400 metres events in addition to the 1,500m, but the final decision would rest with the double Olympic champion and his coach Dennis Cotterell.

“Grant has been going for seven years now virtually without a break and I think his immune system may be under a lot of stress, and that’s why he keeps breaking down when he gets to that state, when you’re so finely tuned,” he said.

Most of Australia’s best swimmers will return to competition at the end of the month despite just arriving home from Athens.

The Australian team’s selection trials for October’s World Shortcourse Championships in Indianapolis are being held in Brisbane from September 25-29.

Nugent said it would be logical to have the championships well after the Olympics but there was no room in the swimming calendar.

“The rationale might have been to have it close to the Olympics, so that there isn’t another major preparation and they can swim off the back of the Olympics off that preparation,” he said.

“That’s probably the thinking behind it, but they’re very close together and it will affect who goes, there’s no doubt about that.”

Ian Thorpe, Jodie Henry Leisel Jones and Hackett will not be competing at the trials.

Swimming: Davies aims to upstage Hackett

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WELSH Olympic bronze medallist David Davies returned home to a hero’s welcome and immediately set his sights on becoming the new king of long-distance swimming.

The 19-year-old sensation was back in Wales following his Athens exploits, just in time to receive yet another award.

Davies was made an honorary life member of the City of Cardiff club, where he began swimming at the age of seven, as a tribute to becoming the first Welshman to win an Olympic medal in 36 years and clocking the fourth fastest 1,500m in history.

A well-earned holiday now beckons for Davies who had to rush back for the British Short-Course Championships last week before returning to Athens.

But he insists it will then be heads down in a bid to end the reign of Australian legend Grant Hackett at the Commonwealth Games in 2006.

“I’m certainly not going to slack off now, winning this medal has given me a real taste for success and made all the hard training worth while,” said Davies. “I guess the occasion made me raise my performance to the next level.

“The Commonwealth Games are not that far away so I have a lot of strength work to do to close the gap on Hackett, but I’m confident I can.”