The Olympics will happen. Kelsey-Lee Barber knows it. Banish all doubt that the coronavirus which still infects much of the planet will again get the games called off.
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If the world champion javelin thrower's determination is anything to go by, her assertion will stand. She is certain.
"In my mind, I'm definitely going to Tokyo," she said as she trained at the Australian Institute of Sport. "The games will be on."
She won the world championship in Doha in 2019 with a throw of 66.56 metres and Tokyo is the big chance of Olympic Gold.
But preparations have been thrown out of kilter by Covid. Last winter was the first winter she has experienced since 2013. Since then, she has left Canberra at the end of every other Canberra summer for Italy and the European heat.
Summer in the southern hemisphere followed by summer in the northern hemisphere gave predictability. Covid brought uncertainty - after all, the Tokyo Olympics was postponed last year - so she and her team have been working on three-month schedules.
"We work on a shorter time frame. We planned from January to March and then reassessed. And now, it's March to the start of June."
She said she does not miss winter in Canberra. The Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra has a similar facility in the tiny lakeside town of Gavirate up near the Swiss border but it's been closed since the epidemic. From there, in pre-Covid, "normal" years, she and fellow athletes would travel to competitions all over Europe between the end of May and middle of September.
And winter is not good for athletes. It makes muscles stiff. "When you have an event like javelin which demands a lot of elasticity, the heat is favourable."
And the past year of lockdown and restrictions changed her training schedule. She is married to her coach, Mike Barber, and they turned the garage into a gym. Their lounge became a yoga and massage studio.
But she's been back outdoors and in the gym at the Australian Institute of Sport in recent weeks, working up towards the Olympics.
This week, they head north to get some acclimatisation for the humidity of Tokyo in the heat of high summer at the end of July and early August. Brisbane, Gold Coast, Townsville, Brisbane again and Cairns are the training and competition destinations.
The Olympics is the big one. "It's been on my radar since I started javelin in 2013."
She competed in the Rio Olympics but didn't win a medal. She thinks Paris in 2024 will be a possibility but, as she turns 30 in September, clearly, Tokyo is the best chance.
What's the thrill of throwing a 600 gram spear? "I love that feeling when you get onto a big throw. A good throw feels seamless, kind of like you're threading a needle through the sky."
But the winning is the thing. When she failed to get a medal in Rio, she broke down in tears in front of the TV cameras.
"I wake up every day with one goal in mind", she said. The perfect throw is her ambition - a golden throw.
The big pay off to all the hard work will be the final of the women's javelin on August 6.
READ MORE:
- Olympic Games 2016: Canberra javelin thrower Roberts' Rio campaign ends in tears
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
