JOANNA BECKETT AIMING FOR MONTREAL GAMES Olympic qualifying time holds no fears for N.Z. 400m champ.

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34013, 29 November 1975, Page 4

JOANNA BECKETT AIMING FOR MONTREAL GAMES Olympic qualifying time holds no fears for N.Z. 400m champ.

(By

ROD DEW)

Any athletes hoping to represent New Zealand in the women’s 400 metres sprint at the Montreal Olympic, Games next year will have to break the New Zealand resident and national records for the distance before they will even be considered. That appears to be a tall order by any standards.

However, the Olympic qualifying standard of 52.65ec required by the New Zealand selectors holds no horrors for the attractive young Canterbury sprinter, Joanna Beckett. “I think the time is fair enough,” she said. “A

mistake was made in sending too many athletes in various events who were not up to standard to the Munich Games. It is not surprising that the selection has been tightened up.” Miss Beckett, who will celebrate her nineteenth birthday in a few days, won the New Zealand 400 metres title at Dunedin earlier this year after having previously set a new New Zealand resident record of 53.45ec in the New Zealand Games. She is unconcerned that she will have to run faster than she has ever done be-

fore to stand a chance of even getting to Canada. “1 am certainly hoping that the qualifying standard is not beyond my reach.” Her coach and mentor, Mr Valdemars Briedis, is certainly very pleased with her development. “I believe she will make it. She has very high potential,” he said. And he should know what he is talking about. Mr Briedis was the guiding force behind Marise Stephen (nee Chamberlain), who broke the world 400 metres record several times before leaving it at 53.8 sec. However, the fact that

Miss Beckett is running times which wpuld have bettered the world record in the late 1950 s can be of only minor satisfaction these days. The standard, assisted by the advent of rubber tracks, has risen considerably in recent years and a sprinter must now expect to run faster than 52sec to be sure of a place in a semi-final at Olympic level. “There is no point in going if you are running only 53.65ec,” Mr Briedis, who was New Zealand's Olympic coach at Munich, emphasised. “The Olympic Games are not for learning. Tremendous nerve, strength and physical energy needs to be stored up for years for this.” He described the New Zealand qualifying time lor the 400 metres as “tough but realistic” and certainly within reach of Miss Beckett. It is, he points out, only seven-tenths of a second faster than her best ( last season. Mr Briedis dos not con-| sider that Miss Beckett isi in any way too young to I make her mark over 4001 metres at Olympic level.; She would certainly be* running faster times'when’ she got older, but she! would be quite capable of holding her own in the tur-l moil of an Olympic festival.

Miss Beckett’s build-up this year has been a little different from before and is designed to increase her strength and stamina without losing speed. She has been regularly beaten this season over 100 metres, and this can be put down to the much greater density of the work she has been doing. Mr Briedis is not yet satisfied with her speed over the short sprints, although with the extra work he expected her to take longer to reach top speed. He intends to keep her working on the short sprints until she can run the 100 metres in less than 12sec and the 200 metres in less than 24sec. Only then will he move the emphasis on to the 400 metres. “She has the strength and the rhythm and now she needs to get her leg speed up,” Mr Briedis said. He does not want her toi run too many 400 metres! too soon.

Last season, he is convinced .that she ran over] this distance too many! times for her own good! and is a little worried that,' this might have some de-! layed effect on her running this season. “It could hurt her this year, but I hope not.”

Miss Beckett has best times of 11.7 sec and 23.95ec, respectively, for 100 and 200 metres. Mr Briedis firmly believes that she can lower these to 11.5 sec and 23.55ec, equalling the New Zealand resident record in the shorter sprint and bettering it by a tenth of a second in the longer race. Although confident ini her own .ability, Miss Beck-i ett fully appreciates that! she will not get to the! Olympics without max-! imum effort. “It means a lot of hard: work and a lot of sacrifice.! It is no use just being the! best in the country this! time — you have to bet among the best 16 in the] world. That is the basis on; which the qualifying stan-i dard has been set.” One of her chief con-; cems is that she does not; get enough strong competition — a problem which Mrs Stephen also faced when striving for Olympic recognition. “You

get £ood times only when you are chasing somebody. Sometimes at Queen Eliza-

beth II Park, it doesn’t feel like a race at all.” She is eagerly looking forward to the Dorrie Leslie contest against Wellington in January In this, she will be matched against New Zealand’s two other leading 400 metres sprinters, Penny Hunt and Kay Hawkins. Mrs Hunt, who set a New Zealand national record of 52.75ec in the 400 metres at the Munich Olympics, took everybody by surprise last season by stepping back down to the short sprints and winning both national titles. Miss Hawkins was second to Miss Beckett in the 400 metres final at Dunedin.

This should provide herll with some indication of I how she is shaping up, but I it will not really answer the problem of lack of competition. “I will run with the men' if I have to — but that) could be embarrassing for both parties.”