Kelly Sotherton - a favourite underdog for Olympic glory

Kelly Sotherton has noted the history. Bronze in 1996, gold in 2000. Bronze in 2000, gold in 2004. These were the Olympic sequences recorded by Denise Lewis and Kelly Holmes, Great Britain’s golden girls of the new millennium. Sotherton brings up the names then reminds you of where she finished in Athens 2004.

“I had this thought that Denise won bronze, then won gold,” Sotherton ponders. “Kelly won bronze then won gold. I’ve won bronze. Does that mean now I’m going to win gold?” She follows the question with a long, mouthwatering ‘Mmmm’. It is clearly more than just a passing thought.

“I always go through those kinds of scenarios in my head,” Sotherton says. “That would be my status for the rest of my life. Once you’re an Olympic champion nobody can ever take that away from you.” Denise Lewis, Olympic heptathlon champion. Kelly Holmes, Olympic 800/1500m champion. The labels stick.

Long Jump PB in London

Kelly Sotherton, Olympic heptathlon champion next? A career-best long jump (6.79) on her way to victory in the four-event challenge at the Aviva London Grand Prix on 25/26 July sent out a reminder to the world’s leading multi-eventers that, despite not having contested a heptathlon in 2008, Sotherton should be a dangerous presence in Beijing.

“I call myself a favourite underdog because I’ve not done a heptathlon this year,” Sotherton says. “I’ve been unlucky with injuries but I know I can perform and I know I can mix it with the best. I see myself as a realistic gold medal chance and, even though at times it’s slipped away because of injuries, I know it’s still there.”

Worst year for injuries

Kidney failure, and quad and hip injuries, are among the interruptions to training which Sotherton has had to endure this year. The London meeting, at Crystal Palace, was her first multi-events competition of the season, although she did contest four individual events at the UK Championships on 11-13 July.

“I’ve had a really unlucky year, my worst year ever for injuries,” Sotherton says. Even after declaring that she was back to “a clean bill of health” on the eve of the London Grand Prix, she then hurt an adductor while attempting to clear the third flight in the 100m hurdles after officials had set the barriers incorrectly.
 
The event had to be rerun and Sotherton was forced to settle for a time of 13.66, well down on her best (13.21). But, earlier on the first day, she had improved her best long jump by 11cm, leaping ahead of another British golden girl, Mary Rand, in the national all-time rankings. Rand (then Mary Bignal) set a lifetime best and then World record 6.76 for Olympic long jump gold at Tokyo 1964.

With a 14.36 shot, and a 23.63 200m, on the second day, Sotherton confirmed that she is on target to set a personal best heptathlon score in Beijing. It stands at 6547, set in Gotzis in 2005.

Not fased by pressure of Olympic stage
 
 “I know I’m not firing on all cyclinders at the moment,” Sotherton says. “I’m on four out of five but I think that, by the Olympics, I might be just right. I treat this like the beginning of the season – I would usually have gone to Gotzis with two competitions under my belt and I always generally get a PB there and there is no reason why I can’t treat this the same way.

“I’m not fazed by the competition (at the Olympics) and what it stands for if you win. And I’m not fazed that there are four girls who have scored higher (this season) than I have ever scored. I’m pretty confident that my success at previous championships holds me in good stead.”

Sotherton’s competition record has yielded her not only Olympic bronze in 2004 but Commonwealth Games gold in 2006, World Championships bronze in 2007, European Indoor Championships pentathlon silver in 2005 and 2007, and World Indoor Championships silver in 2008.

“I’m quietly optimistic about what I can do,” Sotherton says. “I’ve learned a lot and I’ve medalled at the last three championships I’ve done (2007 European Indoors and World Championships, 2008 World Indoor Championships). I want to medal, I need to medal, and I know I can.”

Despite Sotherton’s impressive medal collection, it could have been more. Her weakness in the javelin cost her a podium at the 2005 World Championships and at the 2006 European Championships.  Even in taking bronze in Osaka last year, she managed only a miserable (31.90) in the javelin, in which her personal best is 40.81.

Need to improve in Javelin

“Obviously, the one event I need to improve on is the javelin,” Sotherton acknowledges. “I know it has been my Achilles heel the past couple of years but I have progressed a few metres this year and three metres is 60 points. Even if I only throw what I have already thrown this year (34.31 at the UK Championships) it is still 60 more points than last year, which still gets me up to near 6600.

“That is a key event for me. I need to give away not too many points. The other six events are really strong for me.” On a positive note, Sotherton says that she is “really enjoying the long jump at the moment’ and that her 51.05 split in the European Cup 4x400m proves how well her running is going.

The absence of Carolina Kluft, the Swede who has chosen not to defend her Olympic title, and Jessica Ennis, Sotherton’s fellow Briton who is injured, simplifies the task for Sotherton, although she says: “I’d have that same attitude (that she can win in Beijing) if Carolina and Jessica were there.”

Sotherton also has her sights on a second medal – in a 4x400m squad containing 2007 World Championships individual gold and silver medallists Christine Ohuruogu and Nicola Sanders. “I’m in the team so whether they select me for the final six I won’t know until nearer the time and (it may depend on) how I perform in the heptathlon,” she says.

Aged 31, what does the future hold for Sotherton beyond Beijing? “Another heptathlon year next year, I think, and I will see how my body is,” she replies. “Then I may enjoy jumping for a couple of years then come back for London 2012 in the heptathlon.”

David Powell for the IAAF