Finland's Arsi Harju in Sydney 2000 (© Getty Images)
Olympic Shot champion Arsi Harju of Finland today flew into the Hungary to begin a spell of training at the IAAF Hammer Centre, the Accredited Training Centre in Szombathely, Hungary.
Harju who took the Olympic title in Sydney and followed with a World championship bronze in Edmonton in 2001, will stay at the world renowned facility until the 27 May, as part of his preparations for the defence of his Olympic title.
After finishing fourth in the 2003 World Indoor Championships, Harju, who turned 30 years of age on 18 March, struggled to find his technique last summer. His outdoor season's best was only 19.76m which was an atrocious disappointment for an athlete who had hit 21.00m indoors during the 2003 winter. Harju’s outdoor personal best is 21.39m (2000).
The Szombathely centre has excellent facilities and high-quality coaching, and dozens of great champions have trained there under the influence of its General Director Tibor Gecsek, the 1998 European Hammer champion.
Click here for more information about ATC Szombathely
Bolt – HPTC star pupil
The IAAF’s High Performance Training Centre in Kingston, Jamaica has also been in the news recently thanks to the exploits of its greatest ever pupil Usain Bolt, the World Junior and Youth sprint champion.
Bolt blasted to a World Junior 200m record of 19.93, which is also the current season’s world senior lead, on 11 April at the CARIFTA Games in Hamilton, Bermuda.
The Kingston HPTC is based in the University of Technology under the General Directorship of Dennis Johnson.
Click here for more information about HPTC Kingston
Earlier this year, Bolt with his HPTC colleagues, Simon Pierre, Germaine Gonzales and Mellard Brown (click on Bolt photo to enlarge), was also in fine 4x400m relay form on 28 February at the 28th Gibson Relays, clocking 3:04:16.
Worldwide network
The IAAF has established and is continuously striving to expand a worldwide network of Regional Training Centres (RDC), High Performance Training Centres (HPTC), and Accredited Training Centres (ATC).
New HTPC
The HPTC netwrok has recently just been enlarged to include the following centre -
HPTC South America Headquarters
Address: Av. Sete de Setembro, 874 – 3o andar – Centro
Manaus – AM – Brazil – CEP 69005-140
Phone: (55 92) 232-9162
Fax: (55 92) 232-9805
Director: Hélio Marinho Gesta de Melo
IAAF