Trinitarian Familys Olympic Pride

Trinitarian Familys Olympic Pride

Ollie Hoare “gave it a crack” in 1500m final

Oliver Hoare’s Olympic campaign might not have ended the way he wished but he was nevertheless part of an Australian resurgence in middle distance running, and created his own piece of Trinity history.

The first Trinitarian to run in an Olympic final won the right to mix it with the best in the quickest Games 1500m decider ever.

“We are all super proud of him,” said his mum Kate after the 24-year-old US-based runner finished 11th in stamina-sapping heat and humidity in Tokyo behind Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who clocked an Olympic record of 3m 28.32s.

“He gave it a crack, and that’s all you can ask for.

“I’m glad it’s all over. We are exhausted; I hate to think how poor Ollie is.”

The Class of 2015 runner said later the Olympics were more intense than he expected, especially in the restrictive pandemic conditions.

“It was a week of just thinking about the race every day, every hour, every minute,” he said.

“You can’t really go anywhere. You’re in your room thinking about it.

“I know a lot of athletes are probably dealing with that, too, but I just didn’t handle it well.

“I couldn’t rest. I couldn’t switch on and off, no matter what I did.

“And I think that affected me. So it’s a learning curve.”

Ollie pushed out hard to take up a handy third position early in the race.

He was still fifth at the halfway stage but when the leaders upped the tempo he started slipping back through the field, and came home in 3m 35.79s, over three seconds outside his personal best.

“He went for it,” his mum said.

“I hope he’s tired, not injured. He fell back quickly, and that’s unusual.

“He will be disappointed but he’ll learn a lot from the experience.”

His performance again was watched on TV back at home in Caringbah by his mum, dad Greg – a former world beach running champion and track runner who got him started in aths – and younger brother and fellow Trinitarian Chris, along with the family pet Roger, a patriotic pug decked out in Aussie colours.

Fellow Aussie Stewart McSweyn finished seventh in a race that marked the first time since 1956 that Australia had two finalists in the event.

With two Aussie women also in the 1500m final, and Peter Bol placing fourth in the 800m final, Australia’s renewed depth of middle distance talent was on show in Tokyo.

McSweyn also came under pressure when the leaders turned the heat up, saying: “I thought I was in the hunt but with 500 to go I started to feel the wind-up.”

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