Andrew Howe (© Getty images)
On the eve of the 10th IAAF World Junior Championships in Grosseto, four of the 1429 athletes who will take part in the competition met with the press and for some of them today’s was their first experience as interviewees.
Italy’s Andrew Howe, national record holder at Long Jump (8.07m) and World Junior leader, Kerron Clement (USA) 400m Hurdles NCAA champion and the fastest Junior in the world this year with 48.77, Sally McLellan of Australia winner of last year’s World Youth 100m Hurdles gold medal in Sherbrooke and South Africa’s Justine Robbeson, heptathlon national champion were in attendance.
Transcript of today’s press conference
Andrew Howe
You have been performing exceptionally well at Long Jump this year and you have the best mark in the World coming into this World Junior Championships. What are your ambitions for this competition?
“My main ambition here in Grosseto is to give my best. If my best is good enough for gold then I’ll take gold. If my best is good enough for silver then I’ll take the silver. My goal is to do my very best. And hopefully I will be able to win.”
You are one of the leading athletes in Italy, despite your young age. How do you deal with the demands of the media and the pressure?
“I try to speak to journalists just like I would speak to friends. I have had so many injuries in the past year or so that I feel I’m just coming back in the limelight. I don’t feel pressure, I just take it easy. And obviously the fact of having my mother as a coach helps taking the pressure off.”
Can you tell us a bit more about your family story? How you were born in the States and then moved to Italy with your mother? Was she the one who pushed you to take up the sport?
“I moved to Italy when I was 6 years old. My mother married an Italian and we decided to move to Italy. My mother was obviously very influential in my decision of taking up the sport. She was a 13.29 sprint hurdler and is now my personal coach.”
To read more about Andrew Howe click here
Kerron Clement
You ran the fastest time of the year at 400m Hurdles back in May. Your time of 48.77 would have been sufficient to win all the previous editions of the World Junior Championships. How confident does that make you about the gold medal?
“I am very confident, we have a great US team and it feels great to be here. I trained very hard back at home at University of Florida so I am just going to be myself, run my race and perform as well as possible. I just have to trust my training.”
From Edwin Moses to Kevin Young, there have been fantastic 400m hurdlers in the United States. Do you have a role model?
“I would have to say Edwin Moses. He was such a great champion and hopefully one day I will be in his shoes and win a World Championships gold.”
"I am really having a good time here and it's an honour for me to compete in these championships. In addition to the individual 400m Hurdles event I will also run the anchor leg of the 4x400m relay."
Sally McLellan
You are a multi-talented athlete. You won the 100m Hurdles gold in Sherbrooke and 40 minutes later were back on the track for the 200m. How do you cope with the challenge?
“To be honest with you when I think back to what I did in Sherbrooke I have no idea how I did it. I just went into the championships healthy, very confident and well prepared and just achieved great results.
“I am used to competing in several events and I enjoy it. I don’t like it when I don’t have to race, it gets boring. Here in Grosseto I will be running in the 100m and the 100m Hurdles.
You ran the last leg of Australia’s 4x100m relay in Paris World Championships last year. Can you tell us about this experience? Are you being considered for the Australian relay squad in Athens?
“When I stepped on the track I had chills going through my whole body. It was an amazing experience, the best ever. On the track I was looking all around, soaking the feeling, enjoying the excitement. I didn’t feel nervous, I wasn’t stressed I was just in awe in front of such a big crowd and so many champions on the track. If Australia was sending a 4x100m team to the Olympic Games I would have been part of the team but unfortunately they are not.
Can you tell us a bit more about yourself? How did you get started in athletics?
“At first I was a gymnast. I didn’t know anything about athletics but when my mother and I had to move I had to quit gymnastic because there was no club nearby. My mother heard of a local athletics club and she made me join. I just loved it since the very first day.”
To read more about Sally McLellan click here
Justine Robbeson
You won a silver medal at the 2001 World Youth Championships in Debrecen in the Javelin and also made the final in the Long Jump. Now you are competing in the Heptathlon. Can you tell us how you made the transition and took the decision to compete in the Combined Events?
“I have always been used to competing in many events at the school championships mainly for my school to earn as many points as possible. And then one day the coach told me ‘why don’t you try the pentathlon’ and I did and I wasn’t too bad at it. Then when I changed category and had to move up to the heptathlon the two events they added were the Javelin, which is my strongest event and the 200m at which I am not too bad either so I thought to myself that event is for me!”
The reigning World Junior champion at Heptathlon is Carolina Kluft. Since winning her title she has had excellent results. Do you look up to her and aim at having similar results?
“Carolina Kluft is definitely a mentor for me. What she has achieved is fantastic. I want to make sure I get the best technical basics and have the necessary foundation to build up into and then maybe one day I can try and be as strong as her. But definitely Carolina Kluft is someone I look up to.”
Potchefstroom is famous for producing very talented athletes. Can you tell us a bit more about where you come from?
“Potchefstroom is basically a student town, the training facilities are excellent and coaches are very good there. These are the main reasons why I decided to move there.”
