Ath: Different coaches for different courses

AAP General News (Australia)
08-08-2008
Ath: Different coaches for different courses

By John Salvado

BEIJING, AAP - The relationship between coach and athlete is often a complex one.

Particularly in such an individual sport such as track and field.

For some athletes that means keeping it in the family, while others prefer a more conventional
business arrangement.

And there's all sorts of variations on the themes in the 41-strong Australian team
at the Beijing Olympics.

Take Sharon Hannan and Sally McLellan.

The pair are understandably and undeniably close, having joined forces on the Gold
Coast back when McLellan was just 12.

But the vital dynamic of the relationship is strictly business as the self-taught Hannan,
53, has turned the blonde Queenslander into a genuine Olympic medal prospect in the 100m
hurdles.

"Everyone thinks it's like a mother-daughter relationship, but it's nothing like that,"

McLellan, 21, said from the team training camp in Hong Kong.

"It's strictly athlete and coach and I think it should stay like that because she needs
to be able to say things bluntly to me.

"It's a good relationship where we have respect for each other.

"I know that I'm a pain to work with sometimes. I can be pretty grumpy."

McLellan still marvels at Hannan's uncanny knack of predicting how fast she will run
at any given moment.

She was spot on when McLellan slashed more than two-tenths of a second off her national
record last year in clocking 12.71 seconds in Japan.

And she was on the money again when McLellan rewrote the record books again twice last
month with runs of 12.58 and 12.53 in Europe.

Several other members of the Australian team prefer to be guided by their brother,
father or husband.

Take headline-grabbing 800m runner Tamsyn Lewis, who has had six coaches in a long
career before finding the right mix with older brother Justin.

When Lewis broke through for her first international title with victory in the 800m
at the world indoor championships in March, she passed all the credit to her brother,
a former professional sprinter.

"I idolised him when I was little, we've always got along," she said earlier this year.

"We've never, ever fought.

"If you don't have trust in your coach you may as well not be coached by that person."

Pole vaulter Alana Boyd also has no trouble in placing faith in the only coach she
has ever had - father Ray Boyd.

Athletics runs deep in the Boyd family with pole vaulter Ray and sprinter wife Denise
both Olympians, while Alana's younger siblings Jacinta and Matthew are also involved in
the sport at the top level.

As a former Olympic vaulter, Ray Boyd's credentials could not be questioned.

Walker Jane Saville's situation is different as she is now coached by her husband,
former professional cyclist Matt White.

Despite knowing little about the technical subtleties of race walking - at least in
the early stages - White believed there were many common aspects of the two disciplines.

And so far it seems to have worked.

Much like absent 400m hurdles world champion Jana Rawlinson, who is coached - and for
a period was also managed - by husband and former Commonwealth men's 400m hurdles champion
Chris Rawlinson.

Another big name coach associated with a member of the 2008 Games team is former Olympic
heptathlon champion Glynnis Nunn-Cearns, who looks after rising 400m star Dylan Grant.

Then there's former East German javelin world record holder Uwe Hohn, who was tracked
down in Qatar in March by Jarrod Bannister after he smashed the Australian record with
a throw of 89.02m in February that has him sitting atop the world rankings.

Now they live next to each other in the German town of Potsdam.

"He's pretty relaxed, he's a good guy to hang out with," said the laid-back Bannister.

Commonwealth 400m champion John Steffensen prefers the American model, and is currently
working with Bobby Kersee, who also coaches US sprint queen Allyson Felix.

But perhaps the relationship that covers the broadest spectrum is that of Steve Moneghetti
and Lee Troop, who will run his third Olympic marathon in Beijing.

It's a mixture of athlete-coach, runner-runner and best mates.

They even look alike.

No wonder it has stood the test of time.

AAP jds/mo

KEYWORD: OLY08 ATH AUST (AAP SPORTSFEATURE)

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