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Commonwealth Games: Where Are Our Elite Females?
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By Cindy King.
In April after the national athletics championships, Athletics Australia (AA) announced its first round of nominations for the Australian athletics team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in
The purpose of this article is not to debate whether or not the “A” qualifiers are too difficult. Based on world records and times that are being run around the world, 2:01.00 for the 800m, 4:09.50 for the 1500m, 15:20.00 for the 5,000m and 32:10.00 for the 10,000m certainly seem reasonable.
Good on the women who are out there competing and trying to make the team, but the question seems to be, why don’t we have more elite Australian female distance runners?
Elite distance coach and manager Nic Bideau does not think that things are as negative as the team named in April suggests. “This year we've had Nikki Chapple run 68.37 for a half marathon, Lisa Weightman win a marathon, Eloise Wellings place 2nd in Osaka 5000m, Kaila McKnight place 2nd in Daegu 1500m and Benita Willis place 17th at the world cross country. Throw in Lara Tamsett, Lisa Flint, Becky Lowe, Zoe Buckman and Melissa Rollison and we certainly have produced some talent that is still active. Most Commonwealth countries would be proud of those stocks. Perhaps the AA high performance team didn't look closely enough at what is required to compete for the medals at the Commonwealth Games when they wrote the selection criteria. Of those mentioned, only Eloise and Lisa are confirmed in the team but in my opinion at least 4 of the others, possibly 5 could be contenders for Commonwealth medals in October - if they manage to get themselves into the team.”
Athletics Australia National Distance Coach Tim O’Shaughnessy agrees “the situation is not as dire as it appears”. He notes that in the Zatopek 10,000m race in December of last year, 6 women got under the “B” Standard for the Commonwealth Games. And “the women’s 1500m is a mystery to me. I believe that the talent is there but that they just have not had the opportunities or made the opportunities to be aggressive enough to make the times happen. We’re still hopeful that they will make the times. And in another case, Nikki Chappel’s injury has come at a bad time.”
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Injuries appear to be the biggest hurdle he faces in developing our femaledistance stars. “We not only lose them at the top end – we also lose them in the development phase. At the end of 2009 I came across a picture of a development camp that was held at the beginning of 2008. There were ten girls in the photo with Sonia O’Sullivan, many of whom had competed internationally, and within that 2-year period every single one of them had suffered a major injury, most of them stress fractures.”
This begs the question of why girls are so susceptible to stress fractures. Again, this is not an easy question to answer, but we know it is related to diet (getting adequate calcium and calories) and that a disproportionate number of elite female runners suffer from clinical and sub-clinical eating disorders in their efforts to achieve what they believe is the ideal female running body. But when they get too thin they lose both fat and muscle, and muscles work to protect bones from the stresses of elite running.
O’Shaughnessy notes that the boys coming through get injuries, but that they tend to be shorter-lasting. “It could be eating, or it could be a lack of general sport in the girls’ younger ages. Their bodies do not seem to be conditioned well enough to handle the stresses and loads of training. We need to do more work around this area.” Eloise Wellings, who has qualified for the team in the 5,000m and the 10,000m, concurs with this theory. “Beyond nutrition, one of the reasons why I have suffered 10 stress fractures is that my muscles were not strong enough to support the impact of running. So I focus on lots of core work and a little bit of lower body work to build lean muscle in my legs.”
Anna Thompson, who ran the 5,000m at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and the 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games in 2006, also notes that we need to get a greater base of runners into the sport, on the theory that only a few of those who compete will become champions. She ran a cross country race in
We are achieving the mass numbers of females competing at the non-elite level. Approximately half of all Little Athletics participants are female, and in 2006 more women than men registered for The City to Surf Fun Run in
What can The Runner’s Tribe readers do to help ensure that the 2014 Commonwealth Games have a full complement of female distance runners?
1. Encourage any girls that you know to compete in all sports, including athletics.
2. Be a real track fan! Go to track meets and support the athletes so that athletics becomes a popular sport for girls.
3. If you are a parent or role model of a developing female athlete, encourage them to focus on strength and fitness, not leanness.
4. There may still be more additions to the team, so cheer on all the athletes who do make it to
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8 comments to "Commonwealth Games: Where Are Our Elite Females? "
Good article. I'm really glad that someone has written an insightful piece on elite women runners. Australia has a strong group right now, keep at it.
I agree, good article. At the end of the day I have observed many coaches training young female athletes like they are fully grown women which seems to be part of the problem, too much too young. Just take Georgie Clarke for example she was a champion at a very young age, broke many records and even competed at the Olympics. She trained as hard as a fully grown women which cannot be good for a growing body, and then she disappeared from the track scene. There have been many stories of elite female runners also disappearing due to injury, it seems like an obvious answer, stop training young adolescent girls so hard and let them grow into fully grown women first.
They train too hard at the wrong times of the year partly due to AA's stupidity!
The female athletes I have seen do way too much Anaerobic training for too much of the year. They are susceptable to injury. Also, they don't know how to take a month off a year, they think active recovery is good and still do 100km a week when they shouldn't be running at all for that month.
We need to get some decent coaches with longer term views and get as many of the girls to train together as we can and just run and run and run - all aerobic, with some fun Fartlek and then a few races here and there depending on the athlete.
They need to also be taught how to compete, not train themselves into the ground.
There are many layers regarding this topic that need to be addressed but here are two for now.
Yes there are many great young etc Japanese female runners but keep in mind they are supported far differently in that country than ours here.
When major races in this country like the Sydney City 2 Surf re-invest part of their revenue or at least a % of it back in to prize money then some of our girls will be in a position to use that money to move forward and advance their goals. As will our men. I am all for charity based runs but they also need to look seriously at re-investing back in the the very community they drive their fundraising from and use for promotional purposes including athletes images etc.
I could go further with this....
On another note the subject of eating disorders is still largely hidden under the rug and I can't tell you how many super talented young women I have seen fall by the wayside with this and those that currently...clearly are right now dealing with it quietly behind closed doors. This needs to come right out in the open and some coaches also need to have a good look at themselves and their management of weight/race weight with females.
After two decades of racing and taking stock my personal goal is to do what I can to tackle these two aspects first over the ensuing years ahead.
I am sure that I will find a few others to come along for the ride and be agents of change with me.
My personal experience tells me that we female distance athletes need the support of other female athletes who understand the lifestyle of the aspiring distance athlete. Living in Loughborough in the UK in 2007 showed me just how successful a squad of female distance athletes can be.
Loughborough University attracts many of UKs aspiring athletes who are aware of the popularity of running and the support that is available there. Being part of a big group of female athletes who can fully appreciate the lifestyle that is necessary to be a decent athlete reminded me how much I love running at a time when it is easy to take another path.
Many of us are trying to do a full training load, full time study and work at the same time. To be able to train with a bunch of girls who you can talk to about what works and what doesn't is, I think, essential and healthy!
We are so lucky in Canberra to have a group of 12 girls who share the highs and lows of training together.
Love it Hannah, very true. I am for the first time part of an all women's group here in San Francisco called Impala Racing Team. Women who balance study, work, family etc with dedicated running & racing programs.
I am enjoying sharing and exchanging with these women. That squad in Canberra I also believe and know to be excellent. Women need exactly what you state within running.
With female athletes the challenges are to overcome burnout and stress related injuries and to simply maintain an enjoyment in the sport. A coach should have patience and nurture his young squad and have long term goals so that can foster a love of athletics and a love of sport.
I've recently checked out some video interviews with John Cook, former coach of Shalane Flannagan and others. His successes with female athletes are based on 50% aerobic and 50% anaerobic training with most running being on grass, trails and soft surfaces, and keeping spike use to a minimum. The programs are tweaked for the individuals and he recognises each athlete as an individual with individual needs and does not adopt a "one size fits all" training program. He maintains that good coaching methods can avoid the stress fractures, shin splints etc. He believes in stimulating the nervous systems with a variety of training to avoid stagnation and boredom. This variety includes yoga, pilates, gym sessions, core work with medicine balls etc, and drills for flexibility. It is not all about running and mega miles; a certain amount of time has to be devoted to the supplementary work and to speed work of the shorter variety. You are never too old, too young or too slow to undertake speed work. It's the kick at the end of the race that makes the difference.
I agree you need a good group of females to train with (provided they are not overly competitive with each other) but I also feel that there should be more variety in training to avoid the "same old" syndrome and thus maintain interest and enthusiasm. Something challenging and different - the sessions might take a little longer but the rewards will be greater. The US has its college system that helps with the group training but in Australia this will always be difficult to overcome and good coaches are few and far between. If the female athlete trains in a mixed squad then that squad has to be a manageable size and her training partners should be of comparable or slightly better standard to foster improvement. It will always be a challenge in Australia to keep our females (be they elite or otherwise) active in the sport of athletics but it is not only athletics that has this problem.
this is for me , one of the best articles and comments i have read on female distance runners . thankyou to the author and contributors .
i would be interested to read the insights of the athletes and coaches of the likes of Delaney , Carvolth and others of that generation .
it would also be insightful to see how the athletes and coaches of the female athletes , who unfortunately could not fulfill their potential because of shortened careers , what advice in hindsight they would offer to the younger female distance runners in Australia .
i agree that finding the right coach who will consider personalised training programmes and training sessions is crucial .
a tremendous forum , well done