Steffensen Drops Bundle On 400m

The Age

Thursday August 7, 2008

By Len Johnson, Hong Kong and Dan Silkstone, Shanghai

MEDAL-WINNER John Steffensen is out of the individual 400 metres at the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games champion acknowledging that he has lost a race against time to return to top form for Beijing.

"Sometimes you've got to make a wise decision," Steffensen said yesterday.

And an ankle injury to NBA star Andrew Bogut has added uncertainty to Australia's basketball campaign.

Steffensen will remain in the 4 x 400 metres relay squad, which he says is a strong medal chance.

Steffensen said an Olympic year of controversy - two hamstring tears, two changes of coach, surgery to remove his appendix and fights with Athletics Australia - had "not been the best preparation".

Steffensen said those choices had been his, he had made them for valid reasons at the time, and he did not regret them.

"I don't blame anybody but myself, because I'm the one doing it," said Steffensen.

"All I can do is learn from it; I'm 25, this isn't it for John Steffensen."

He said the injuries had not let him get back to top shape to contest the individual event, in which Australia will now be represented by national champion Joel Milburn and Sean Wroe.

"Every time I've gotten better this year, something else has happened."

Steffensen said it was hard for him to acknowledge that his only role was in the relay because in his head he thought of himself as the best 400 runner in Australia. His record backs that up.

Since being the junior member of the silver medal 4 x 400 relay at Athens in 2004, he has been successively a world championships finalist in Helsinki, Commonwealth champion, and a semi-finalist in last year's world championships in Osaka, where he ran under 45 seconds in his heat and semi-final. That made restricting himself to the relay a decision that was "hard to digest".

But Steffensen said it would be wrong to pass up the relay because he was not in top individual form. There were "five other people (in the squad) that you have to have consideration for and have respect for. You have to be upfront with them and honest on what you can deliver."

Basketball star Andrew Bogut rolled his right ankle in a pre-games hitout against Angola last week.

He did not play in the Boomers' final warm-up game against the US on Tuesday night and has not trained in more than a week.

He played briefly against Olympic champion Argentina a day after receiving the injury but left the court when his ankle continued to trouble him.

Bogut's injury is a big threat to the Boomers' medal hopes. The imposing centre has barely touched a ball for the past week. He arrived late into a Boomers camp that has become a battle-hardened unit without him.

Team officials are confident Bogut will play against Croatia on Sunday but he will do so untested and without having gelled with the team.

© 2008 The Age

Back to News Index | Back to Home