Travel to Sydney Australia

We had an awesome flight from Auckland to Sydney, we flew on the new A380 on Emirates Airline.  It’s a giant double decker plane.  We flew in coach but 1st class is where you want to be on that plane they have a lounge and conference room.  We boarded the plane on 2 ramps 1 going to the bottom which is all coach and the other ramp going up to the upper level which is 1st class and business.  The best part of the trip was take off and they had a camera placed so we could see what it looked like from the cock pit view and they played it on the TV screens on the plane.  Your watching the run way and then as we lifted off we headed straight for the clouds, it was pretty cool. The Sydney meet is held in the Olympic park they turned the warm up track from the Olympics into an athletics stadium.  Our hotel is over looking the whole Olympic Park.  The top floor of our hotel is an observation deck of the whole Olympic Park and downtown Sydney.  We can see the Sydney Harbor, Downtown buildings, Olympic Swimming pool, Arena and The Olympic Stadium.  It’s great to see they have found a use for all the Olympic arenas. The meet is tonight and the women’s discus starts at 6pm.  I’ll keep you posted…  

Enjoying Auckland

I have been having a great time on the road in Auckland.  We are staying at nice hotel and the staff here is awesome, most of them remember us from last year and are excited to see us back again.  The food is great, I have been telling everyone that the restaurant is an 8 star place to dine. Two of New Zealand’s best athletes, Beatrice Faumuina, discus thrower and Valerie Villi, shot putter have been the best hostesses.  We went to the beach, played in the black sand, got our feet wet and looked at tons of muscles growing on the rocks.  We had another great adventure in the city center and went up the famous Sky Tower.  The elevator ride up got my heart pumping a little but once we were at the top looking over the city it was breath taking.  We even saw a few sky jumpers those are the crazy people who pay to jump off the tower. The weather has been beautiful, our only bad day was the day of the meet.  This is great training weather not to hot a nice breeze blowing all the time, very tropical.  Becky, Kristin and I have been training at Trusts Stadium and they have welcomed us with open arms, they have everything we need.  They have a huge climbing wall that looks like a lot of fun, but I don’t climb.  I have been able to get some great workouts in and I think I have recovered from the flight. Up next is the meet in Sydney, AUS on Feb. 28th.

 

Theo rocks out in Auckland

Kristin Heaston Throwing in Auckland

Aretha Throwing in Auckland 2009

In heavy rains, Vili debuts with 20.25m toss in Waitakere

Waitakere, New Zealand - Despite pouring rain in Auckland, the 2009 edition of the Black Singlet meeting was a terrific success, and produced another memorable moment for the indomitable Valerie Vili.The Waitakere Meeting is one of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 12-13 September in Thessaloniki, Greece.Despite officials mopping the circle between throws for the safety of the competitors, Vili, the reigning Olympic and World champion, threw as if nothing bothered her. She opened the competition with a 19.57m throw (which in itself would have been good enough to win the competition), and later threw 20.25m, a new New Zealand all-comers record, surpassing her 20.20m from 2007.It was by far the best season’s debut for the 24-year-old, also a former World Youth and World junior champion. Vili was very excited at the end of the competition and thanked the sodden crowd for coming out to watch her compete. Arch rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus, after flying 30hours to reach New Zealand on Thursday, managed a very creditable 19.11m throw for second place. Vili’s Husband Bertrand threw and excellent 60.25m in the men’s discus.   Another notable throwing performance came from Stu Farquhar who won the Men’s Javelin Throw with a 79.30m effort. Jarkko Koski-Vahala of Finland and Josh Robinson found the conditions not to their liking, recording 70.55m and 69.84m respectively. Beatrice Faumuina also provided a New Zealand win in the Discus Throw, throwing a creditable 58.13m.  Becky Breisch from the USA finished with 57.43m for second, with the lead in the competition changing hands several times.  The second American, Aretha Thurmond, threw 54.57m for third.Rain impacts action on the trackThe track times, whilst affected by the rain, produced some close races.  In the men’s 800m, National Champion Tim Hawkes led from gun to tape in 1:52.33.  However, Gareth Hyett was in close pursuit and it was a toss-up as to who had won at the finish with Hyett finishing just 0.04secs behind.  The Men’s 3000m also produced a classic finish with Kim Hogarth pulling away from Andrew Davidson in the final few metres after a neck-and-neck duel down the straight.  The men’s 100m produced a tight contest as well with only 0.08 separating the place-getters.  James Mortimer picked up the victory in 10.49s (and was later to add the 200m victory as well – 21.09s), from Craig Bearda and Carl van der Speck.  2008 Olympian at 200m, James Dolphin, was close in fourth.In the women’s track events things went generally to form, with Monique Williams claiming the 100m and 200m.  In the 100m, others were quicker out of the blocks, but Williams powered quickly into the lead, but felt some soreness in her knee from a recent spill, and eased up.  Andrea Koenen chased hard to record a good time of 11.99secs (to Williams’ 11.94).  In the 200m Williams ran a terrific bend, and extended her lead down the straight to record 23.61s.   2008 World Junior Representative Angela Smit, ran 2:11.87 to win, front running the whole way.  http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=100/newsid=49392.html 

Black Singlet Waitakere NZL

24 hours after arriving in Auckland, NZL I had my opening meet of the season.  The weather did not want to act right.  We had a rain storm all morning and just when we thought it was going to let up it poured again.  At least it was warm rain.  The hard part about throwing in the rain is the grip of the ring and the grip of the discus.  During warm ups we thought we would only get 1 or 2 legal throws and then be stopped due to the weather.  

I felt pretty good technically in the ring but I had a hard time with the grip.  I wasn’t able to put the spin on the discus it needed to fly far.  I finished in 3rd place and I got 7 points for the World Athletic Tour Standings.  The top 8 point earners are invited to the World Athletic Finals, which are in Thessaloniki, Greece this year Sept.  12-13th 2009.

My training partner Kristin Heaston competed in the shot put and she also finished 3rd and got some points for the World Athletic Tour.  The women’s shot put went after us and the rain had stopped and they warmed up really well and right when they started competing the rain came down even harder.  I think Valerie Villi and I were the only ones who fell in the wet circles. 

 Click here for full results, http://www.tilastopaja.org/db/results.php?CID=12619401&Season=2009   Up next is Sydney, AUS Feb. 28th  

2009 Update

 

I enjoyed my 2008 accomplishments, winning the Olympic Trials and making the finals in the Olympics in Beijing were the highlights.  But I have been hard at work to have a better season in 2009.  Training has been going really well and I am excited to get the 2009 season underway.  I had some great fall and winter training sessions.  I was able to address some weaknesses in the off season and I have working hard to get them stronger and gain some more flexibility.  Which is important in discus throwing.  I feel like I am in great shape, my fitness is improved and my strength levels are up. We recently lost one of our Olympic sponsorships, The Home Depot Job Program, which I was part of.  So I have also been busy fundraising trying to find my own sponsors so I can be a Full Time discus thrower, train hard to make the 2012 Olympic Team and get a Medal for the USA!  I have some great people I am working with and I hope to find some sponsors soon.  If you have some ideas or contacts please send them my way.  This a team effort.  I have my new 2009 schedule up with the meets I know about so far.  Follow along as I get ready to start a new season.   

2009 Season Coming Soon…

 

 I am heading to Auckland, New Zealand for a meet on February 20th and it sounds like the top 4 US women discus throwers which includes our current Olympic Gold Medalist Stephanie Brown-Trafton will be there as well as Former World Champion Beatrice Faumuina of NZ and Olympic Finalist Dani Samuels of AUS.  For an opening meet it will be a super strong field and of course I am excited and ready to rumble.  It’s always fun to get in some early meets and better evaluate your training.  After the New Zealand meet I’ll have 2 more competitions, 1 in Sydney, Australia and the other in Melbourne, Australia.  We will most likely have the same field of women at all the meets.  I will keep you posted on the results. 

Theo Golfing in the yard