Jacko Gill to by-pass Olympics to focus on defence of IAAF World Junior title
World Junior Shot Put Champion Jacko Gill has announced today that he will forgo the chance to compete at this years London Olympic Games in pursuit of the shot put U20 age-group world record and the defence of his world junior championship title.
The upcoming world junior championships take place just weeks before the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games and are the last opportunity Gill will have to contest a world junior championship event. The timing of the two events also makes it difficult to shift focus from the 6kg junior shot to the open 7.26kg shot.
After not being named in the initial group of track & field athletes selected for the London Olympics last week, Gill has decided that he will instead focus on the world junior championships to be held in Barcelona mid-July.
I will now put all my eggs in the one basket. Gill said. I cannot focus my training with even the smallest doubt of selection, in particular which weight shots to throw and associated distractions. If I had been named for the Olympics at this early stage, it would have been a different scenario.
At a meeting on Saturday at the Gill family home, Athletics New Zealand High Performance Director Scott Goodman worked through the decision with Jacko and his father Walter, a former national shot put champion.
Jacko is an amazing young athlete and person, said Goodman. Attending both the Olympics and the junior world championships was still a realistic option for him, but after listening to him and his father I realised that he had made a well thought through decision for his long term development. Elite shot putters often have long careers competing well into their thirties and at just 17 years of age, Jacko clearly has many competitive years ahead of him.
Jackos long term goal is to win the Gold medal at an Olympic Games.
Gill confirmed that it had taken him four days to make the decision not to seek selection for the Olympics.
I believe that my decision not to seek selection for this years Olympic Games is the best approach for me to achieve my long term goal of winning Gold at a future Olympic Games.
The decision has been made with a lot of thought and is final. I hope that everyone will continue to support me in my goals and respect my decision.
Goodman said that the young athlete has Athletics New Zealands full support. Like many New Zealanders, I would have loved to have seen Jacko competing in London against the worlds best. However, I am very impressed by Jackos strength of character and his logic in making the decision. When you listen to his reasoning and single-minded determination to be the best in the world, it is impressive.
Gill will remain in New Zealand until June before embarking on a series of warm-up meets through Europe prior to the world junior championships.
Jackos targets for the next few years include:
1) Retaining the IAAF World Junior (Under 20) shot put title at the 2012 IAAF Junior World Championships in Barcelona form the 10th -15th July
2) Claiming the IAAF Junior World Record for shot put of 22.73m with the 6kg shot at the 2012 World Junior Championships
3) Achieving a Top 16 Open Age world ranking by the end of the 2012-13 New Zealand Athletics Season
4) Representing New Zealand at the 2013 Moscow IAAF World Athletics Championships
5) Medalling at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games
6) Medalling at the 2015 IAAF World Athletics Championships
7) Winning an Olympic Games Mens shot put title
Source: Athletics NZ media release.