Tokyo debutant Liz Clay hurdles towards success
It all begins with an idea.
Three years after missing out on the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Liz Clay is more than ready to clinch her first Olympic medal in the 100m hurdles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I knew I hadn’t reached my full potential at any stage,” said Clay.
“I pretty much had one [injury] every year from 2015, but I got really good at dealing with them mentally and knowing that injuries were going to pass.”
Clay cleared the hurdles of injury and is now at the top of her sport more determined than ever to win gold in three weeks at her Olympic debut.
Clay’s athletics training has ramped up in preparation for the Games, training 4 hours each day, but she continues to try and maintain a balanced lifestyle in the Gold Coast where she trains.
“I’m trying not to stay in my apartment all day [thinking about Tokyo] so I go and do something else other than training, today - it was going and doing my grocery shop,” she says.
Clay began hurdling at Hornsby Little Athletics in Sydney at 7 years old. She moved to the Gold Coast in 2016 to train under one of Australia’s top hurdling coaches, Sharon Hannan who trained 100m Hurdles Gold Medallist Sally Pearson for over 15 years.
“She’s a great human being, but I’m also really inquisitive about hurdles,” Clay says of her trainer.
“We work really well together as a team [which is how I like my training], it’s definitely not just her running the show.”
2020 forced athletes to adapt in new circumstances and most had to modify training and Olympic preparations to COVID-19 restrictions around the world.
Tracey Holmes, ABC Sports Journalist and Host of over 12 Olympics said, “Some athletes have been working on themselves whilst some have been competing [through COVID], it will throw different results at the board when the athletes all come together at the Games.”
Speaking on her training, Clay said, “COVID hasn’t really impacted my training, I’ve been pretty lucky. But in a normal year, the whole Australian team would be overseas competing in the Diamond Leagues and in Europe and America.”
“The risk of contracting COVID is just too big, so most people have stayed in Australia for their [Olympic] preparations.”
According to the Australian Olympic Committee, the 100m hurdler joins the 295 Australian Olympic debutants and 473 confirmed Australian Olympians on their way to the Tokyo Games this month.
The 2020 Olympics will look different this year due to COVID. According to VOA News, some of the new restrictions include no opening or closing ceremony and only 50% of spectators will be allowed in venues with no international visitors.
“The Australian team has their own tower in the [Olympic] village and we are pretty much there unless we are training or competing, that’s it,” said Clay.
Clay said that the Australian team will instead watch the Opening Ceremony on a big screen in their uniforms at their pre - Olympic camp in Cairns. She said that athletes have been told little about what the Games will entail with COVID-19 restrictions but Clay still remains positive about her first experience of the Olympics.
“I’ve never been before, so I don’t have an expectation - once I get into the lane [I’m competing in], I’ll just start running,” she says.
Alongside her elite performance training, Clay freelances a graphic design business, ‘Graphic Labs Gold Coast’ which she began as a side job, hoping for broader job opportunities when she inevitably finishes athletics.
“I’ve always loved computers and I ended up doing a job for someone designing a logo,” said Clay.
“Now I am sitting pretty comfortably having this job on the side, it’s handy.”
UNSW Elite Performance Manager Helen Bryson said there was value in athletes having another avenue than sport, saying, “Having something else to focus on is so important for athletes, it shows that they are high achievers and have multiple skills [they can use after sports retirement].”
The nation’s eyes will be on the Australian Olympians in three weeks at the 2020 Tokyo Games, but Clay continues to remain calm and ready to run for her Olympic glory.
“It’s an Olympic Games like no other,” said Clay.