Sally Gunnell sends message to Keely and Co 30 years on from her world title
Sally Gunnell still remembers how it felt, waking up with a cough and a sniffle inside the athletes village. Not feeling at all herself.
Reigning Olympic champion, she was favourite to add the 400m hurdles world title in Stuttgart. She knew it, everybody did.
Beside her bed was a bar of chocolate she had brought from her Swiss training camp as a treat to devour when, not if, she delivered the gold. But she suddenly felt lousy and the pressure from having won in Barcelona the previous summer weighed heavy.
That was 30 years ago and what Gunnell put herself through mentally to become world champion she now wants to pass on in the hope Keely Hodgkinson and others might follow in her footsteps at the 2023 edition in Budapest.
Unlike Gunnell in 1993, Hodgkinson is fit and primed for her tilt at the 800 metres. But it is not physical advice Britain’s hurdling legend is looking to share, rather the mind game she won that week.
Jake Paul calls on John Fury to make retirement bet for fight with son Tommy
“Keely has a great chance of winning, I really believe that,” said Gunnell, the only woman to hold all four major championship gold medals and the world record at the same time.
Hodgkinson is pipped on the line by Athing Mu in last year's World Championship 800m final in Eugene“What I’d say to her is use the mind, tap into the power of positive thought. See yourself coming through and winning the race. Extinguish doubt.”
In Stuttgart Gunnell sat in her room weighing up her options.
“I thought to myself, ‘As Olympic champion have I got more to lose if I get knocked out in the first round? What is everybody going to say?’
“I’d never been a quitter but I knew I had three rounds to get through and I had a cold and a cough." (Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)“I’d never been a quitter but I knew I had three rounds to get through and I had a cold and a cough.
“‘You’re Olympic champion’,” I told myself. “‘You’re in great shape, you’ve done brilliant training, you can do this’.
“For 48 hours I didn't let any negative demons in. I can’t tell you how hard I worked on the mental side.”
Linford Christie had already struck gold for Britain in the 100m, Colin Jackson would add the 110m hurdles later that week. They sat Gunnell down and assured her she would be joining them.
The Essex star not only beat arch-rival Sandra Farmer-Patrick to gold, her time of 52.74 seconds set a world record which to this day remains a British best.
“It shows what you can mentally achieve when you have to,” Gunnell said. “So I look at these championships coming up and want our athletes to really believe.”
Conor McGregor accused of "chickening out" of UFC fight ahead of comeback
British 800m team mates Hodgkinson (centre) and the in-form Jemma Reekie (left) in last year's Commonwealth Games (Getty Images)She is thinking in particular of Hodgkinson, Zharnel Hughes, Laura Muir, Kat Johnson-Thompson and Dina Asher-Smith, all beneficiaries of National Lottery funding whom Gunnell sees winning medals.
Hodgkinson, 21, is the Brit with the best chance, especially with arch-rival Athing Mu a doubt to compete.
“Keely is hungry and she knows what she wants,” said Gunnell. “She’s not going for silver or bronze. She needs gold now. Use the mind, be positive.”
National Lottery players raise more than £30million a week for good causes including vital funding into sport – from grassroots to elite. Find out how your numbers make amazing happen at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk #MakeAmazingHappen #ThanksToYou
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
