More news from Australia

All still well here in Australia. The island is staring to fill up with “star” athletes now, with the arrival of such runners as Gabriela Szabo, Sonia O’Sullivan, Hezekiel Sepeng, Andre Bucher etc. etc. I also saw Linford Christie here today….

It is interesting, because the island is so small, and we all run the same paths. In that way you get to see what the different people are doing in their training. Szabo was moving at around 4 min/km pace yesterday, followed by some extremely fast sprints at the soft grass rugby field.

Today I also did my first real training session down here. My body felt fine, despite the 9 hour time difference and long travel. But I have to be clever and careful and respect the adjustment. So I will play things by ear and take one day at a time. Either way my aim is to run fast in Sydney, and if that means taking easy days or do hard sessions, I have to respect my body.

Tomorrow Johnny Hogseth, my physiotherapist will arrive. That will be nice, so be can adjust my quad muscles. They feel nice now, but with his “magic” touch, they will get even better.

We also watched a meeting at the main land stadium today where Merlene Ottey among others raced. The place was packed with 4000 people in the small stadium…you get a feeling everywhere you go that the Australians are extremely excited about the Games. We get special service at the stores and people are very friendly to us.

Well, that is about all from here. No more snakes lately, but a huge kangaroo came right across the road when I was doing my morning run today. Hmmm….I think I like the Norwegian wildlife better, where dogs and maybe occasionally a moose is all you see :-))

From Australia