History will be kind to me because I intend to write it

GB TRIATHLETE CLARKE QUALIFIES FOR BEIJING

Will Clarke is one of the latest young Brits to have qualified for August's Olympic Games in Beijing - and the star triathlete can't wait to go for gold.

Cambridgeshire-born Clarke - the British No2 behind Tim Don, who will be competing in his third Games - is the current Under-23 World and European Champion, and has a habit of somersaulting to victory.

"The somersaulting is something that the crowds enjoy," grins the 23-year-old who flew to Austen, Texas, last week to begin climate training for China. Next week he competes in the Des Moines World Cup in Iowa, where the winner will take home $250,000.

Clarke ensured his qualification for Beijing last month after coming sixth in a weather-affected race in Madrid in which less than half the field completed.

"The heavens opened when we were running after the swimming and cycling and people began to drop out," Clarke continues. "Only 30 out of 65 starters finished and the temperature had dropped to only seven degrees.

"But I managed to finish and my family were all really relieved and it's a great feeling to know that I will be an Olympian. It's lucky I qualified as my parents booked their flights before it was confirmed I was going.

"The Olympics is the biggest prize you can get in sport. It will be a fantastic experience and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm hoping to get some words of advice from Tim.

"But of the 55 guys who race, 52 go away disappointed that they haven't won a medal. So I will go there and give it my best shot and try to get as close to a medal as possible.

"Whatever happens, I will go out there and enjoy it. The experience will be great so I can learn what you need to do - then I can get a medal in London 2012, hopefully."

Clarke, Don (30) and Alistair Brownlee (20) make up the British triathlete trio heading to Beijing. But first they will be put through their paces in the heat of Texas.

Clarke says: "There is a lot of banter between all of us British lads. But there are times when we have to give each other our own space.

"Out in Austen it will be 38 degrees every day - we will be out there training in that heat and then we go to Des Moines. It'll be perfect practice for Beijing.

"A lot of my main competitors will be also be at Iowa. It's a big money race too - $250,000 for the winner.

"The Kiwis won gold and silver in the last Olympics and they're still strong this year and the Aussies are always strong. It's going to be really tough Games; there are probably about 15 guys that can win it."

And Clarke, whose girlfriend Claire will be out in Beijing staying with the blond star, has an interesting take on ensuring his energy levels remain high.

He added: "Never have sex for three days before a race - that is my rule. It makes a big difference if you do. You will wash it all down the pan if you have some fun the night before."

Labels: Beijing Olympics, Real Madrid, Triathlon, Will Clarke

Posted by Oliver Pickup at 8:50 am | Permalink | Comments

OLYMPIC HOPEFULS

Over 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries will be competing at the Beijing Olympics, which begins on August 8, and Velocity has cherry-picked five youngsters who may be among the medals not just this year, but also in four years' time at the London Games in 2012.

There will be 302 events (165 men's, 127 women's, and 10 mixed - nine more than in Athens 2004) in 28 sports and athletes will be striving to achieve the Olympic motto of "Citius, Altius and Fortius" (Latin for "Swifter, Higher and Stronger"). In all, 31 venues will be used, including the 80,000 capacity national stadium known as the "Bird's Nest", and more than 4 billion people are expected to tune into the Games on television, with over 20,000 journalists covering the event on the ground.

Four years ago in Greece, America topped the medals table, with 35 golds, 39 silvers and 29 bronzes. China were a distant second (32, 17, 14) but are expected to challenge the USA more closely on home turf. Russia (27, 27, 38), Australia (27, 16, 16) and Japan (16, 9, 12) followed. Former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch says the Games in China's capital will be "the best in Olympic history". Below are five names to look out for:

Elise Matthysen
The swimmer, who will be 16 years old in August*, will be competing for Belgium in the 100m breaststroke, and is the first Belgian woman to qualify for the Games in eight years.

Matthysen has been compared to Belgian legend Brigitte Becue, who was also 15 when she qualified for the Seoul Olympics in 1988. She broke Becue's Belgian 100m breaststroke record at the European Championships in Eindhoven this year.

In the heats she clocked a time of 1:09.10 - 0.06 seconds faster than Becue's time in 1998. Matthysen then went onto finish fourth in the final with a time of 1:08.95 - a result that has left her craving a medal in Beijing.

"I was nervous before the final, but the nerves disappeared during my warm-up," she says. "My first reaction after seeing that I finished fourth was one of disappointment. I was so close to winning a medal. But the time I swam made me feel better."

Matthysen's coach is Dutchman Ronald Gaastra, who helped Frederik Deburghgraeve win a gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Deburghgraeve also competed in the 100m breaststroke, setting a world record in the final. Gaastra's long-term goal with Matthysen is winning an Olympic medal in London 2012.

Jeroen Hertzberger
The Netherlands will be among the favourites to win the gold medal in Beijing in the men's and women's hockey, and 22-year-old Herzberger is likely to be firing in the goals for his country. The striker plays his club hockey - along with his two elder brothers - at home-town club Rotterdam, where he also studies at the Randstad Topsport Academy.

Herzberger starred for his country in the Champions Trophy at the end of last year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, scoring the winner against Korea to seal third place for Holland. The Dutch won the gold medal in 1996 and 2000, but lost out to Australia in the 2004 final. Having come through the national youth ranks, Hertzberger cannot wait to take part in his first Olympics and try to win the gold back for his country.

"The Olympics is the biggest sporting event in the world," he grins. "I'm really excited and expect the Games to be amazing. I've been talking to some of the other guys who have been telling me what to expect.

"The Netherlands are a good candidate for the gold medal in Beijing. Australia and Germany will also be strong - it'll be close. The difference in standard between us three is so small."

Will Clarke
The triathlon became an Olympic sport in 2000, and Great Britain's 23-year-old Clarke is in with chance of a podium finish in Beijing, although he is focusing more on winning the gold medal when the Games come to London in 2012. Going into the Beijing Games, the UK are yet to win a medal, of any colour, in either the men's or women's events.

However, that drought could soon be over. Clarke was Britain's top male triathlete last year, finishing fifth at the World Championships in Hamburg and seventh at the Olympic Games test event in Beijing. The 2006 European and World Under-23 Champion is in good form ahead of the Olympics.

Cambridge-born Clarke has a tendency to celebrate his victories with a somersault. "The somersault thing is something I do a lot," he smiles, "because the crowd love it.

"It'll be nice to have Beijing as a practice run, but I am more than likely to do better in London 2012. I'll be a bit older, wiser and stronger."

In 2012, Clarke will be 27, and hopes to be at the peak of his powers. If he continues to improve, there is no reason why he cannot win the gold medal for Britain in 2012 - and you can bet a somersault would follow.

Stephanie Twell
At 15, Twell was the youngest member of the Great Britain team at the 2005 World Cross Country Championships, and ever since has been touted as the heir apparent to World Champion middle-distance runner Paula Radcliffe.

In just over a year, in 2006/07, Twell, who will turn 19 on August 17, won two European Junior Cross Country titles, took the 1,500m silver medal at the summer's European Junior Championships, headed European Junior rankings for the year at 1,500m, 3,000m and 5,000m, topped the World Junior rankings at 1,500m - and achieved the qualification mark for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Colchester-born Twell, who carries a London 2012 badge with her everywhere she goes, has targeted the Games in four years. "I live it, breathe it, dream it," says the strength and conditioning science student at St Mary's University College in Twickenham of the London Olympics.

Brendan Foster, Britain's 1976 Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist and one of the most respected pundits in the UK, said: "She seems to have that X-factor."

Andy Schleck
Luxembourg cyclist Schleck rides for Danish team CSC alongside older brother Fränk, who won the Alpe D'Huez stage of the Tour de France in 2006. Twenty-three-year-old Andy has been earmarked as a gold medal prospect in the Beijing road race, along with Fränk and Kim Kirchen.

Team CSC sport director Kim Andersen believes that the younger Schleck has more potential than his brother. "He has an enormous capacity," Anderson says. "You can tell he has a good head and he's a hard worker, just like his brother."

Schleck believes that winning the Olympics would be even more satisfying than wearing the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. "The Olympics road race is perhaps a bigger dream than the Tour," he enthuses.

"We will have three riders: Kirchen, Fränk and me. It is maybe arrogant to say, but we have three riders that can go for a medal.

"I am from Luxembourg, which is a small country, and it may sound silly but I am really proud of it - I love my country. It is my home, it is where I am from, and I am proud of that and I want to do well at the Olympics. Once you have an Olympic medal no one can take that away from you."

*All ages are correct to August 8.

Labels: Andy Schleck, Beijing Olympics, Elise Matthysen, Jeroen Hertzberger, London 2012, Stephanie Twell, Will Clarke

Posted by Oliver Pickup at 12:15 pm | Permalink | Comments

ONE TO WATCH Will Clarke, European and World U23 Triathlon Champion

Have you heard of that young triathlete who somersaults across finishing lines, and happens to be U23 European and World Champion? No? Well, let me introduce you to 21-year-old Will Clarke, who, in September, somersaulted his way to victory in the U23 World Championships in Lausanne. If triathlon is the UK’s fastest growing sport, then Will is the perfect guy to promote it: tall, physically lean – each groove and sinew of his rippling body formed through hours of daily practice for years – with tousled blond locks, and a beaming, ready smile. Further, he is intelligent, media trained, forthcoming, and – most importantly – successful.

And he’s gallingly successful. He is one of those annoying people who have always been good at whatever they have turned their hand to. A highly competent swimmer by eight, and a competitive distance runner at 12, Will was advised by his French teacher to attend a talent identification day in Loughborough when he was 16.

‘Mercy monsieur’, he might have said as breezed through the competition, and gained a coveted place on the World Class Start programme. It was through this scheme that Cambridgshire-born Will first became acquainted with triathlon, and immediately he was provided with a top coach. ‘I gained a lot of fitness when I got a coach, and ever since then I really improved. I have been improving a lot every year’, Will says, with belief but not boast.

Having swum and run for years, did he find the cycling discipline hard? ‘No, not really. Cycling came quite naturally to me’, he chirps. Indeed at the recent World Championships, it was his powerful cycling leg that gifted Will an unassailable lead. With just the running stage to go – his strongest suit – Will had gained a massive minute-and-a-half advantage.

‘I had a bit of time to burn; time to celebrate, and I could enjoy the finish’, he says. But seriously, somersaulting? ‘The somersault thing is something I do a lot, because the crowd love it’, a huge grin breaks through, almost bashfully.

Will knows what is needed to win, knows how to please the crowd, and is destined for success. He concludes his studies (sports science with management) at Loughborough University – which is also home to the elite British triathletes’ training centre – next June, having taken half a year off for this important triathlon season.

After he graduates Will plans to move up to the senior level, leaving the U23 category – which he has dominated – behind, and push for a place in the British team at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. ‘It’ll be nice to have Bejing as a practice run, but I am more than likely to do better in London 2012’, he says. ‘I’ll be a bit older, wiser, stronger.’

He will be 27 then, and hopefully at the peak of his powers. If he continues to improve, there is no reason why he cannot win the gold medal for Britain in 2012. You never know, he may still be somersaulting to victory.

Labels: Triathlon, Will Clarke

Posted by Oliver Pickup at 4:49 pm | Permalink | Comments