Wednesday marks exactly one year until the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Sports editor ROB SHAW assesses how Tasmania is placed to maintain its impressive contribution
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NOT since Adolf Hitler hosted the spectacle in Berlin in 1936 has an Olympic Games been held without Tasmanian representation.
It is an equally phenomenal achievement that a state that has only passed half a million inhabitants in recent years has sustained a double-figure representation for the last six Olympics.
And with a year to go to the 2016 Games in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, Tasmania is well placed to write another chapter in its impressive Olympic history.
The state looks set to fall back on its traditional sporting strongholds to maintain its impressive involvement with the seven best-placed athletes coming from cycling, hockey, rowing and athletics.
Tasmanian Institute of Sport director Paul Austen was also pleased to see significant advancements in the Paralympic field where four more athletes were presenting excellent cases for selection.
‘‘In our traditionally strong sports we have got athletes very well placed to achieve selection based on how they have been performing at international level,’’ Austen said.
‘‘We don’t appear to be able to maintain the level of Olympic representation achieved in London but are pleased with the increase in potential Paralympians so in total may be close to the same overall representation.
‘‘The Paralympic aspect is very pleasing to see because we’ve had a very low representation there in the past and to have at least six in the mix is excellent for Paralympic sport.’’
Austen said the total number of Tasmanian athletes considered to be in contention for Rio is 29 with several genuine medal contenders.
Launceston’s Tim Deavin, 31, and Hobart’s Eddie Ockenden, 28, have become mainstays in the planet’s top-ranked men’s hockey team.
Both won bronze medals in London four years ago with Ockenden having claimed another bronze in 2008 when he burst onto the international scene in Beijing.
The regular state and national teammates were a key part of the Kookaburras’ world cup win in the Netherlands last year and world league triumph in neighbouring Belgium last month.
The reigning Tasmanian athlete of the year, Ockenden has established himself among the sport’s elite with two nominations for world player of the year, elevation into the Kookaburras’ leadership group and being named Australia’s player of the world cup.
At the tender age of 22, Amy Cure is already among Tasmania’s safest bets for another Olympic selection.
Four years after making the team in London but not getting a ride, the West Pine talent will return to the stage as a multiple world champion and a pivotal member of her country’s track endurance squad, especially its team pursuit.
A similar case could be made for Launceston’s Richie Porte in road cycling although Olympic selection is far less clear-cut.
While for Cure the event represents the pinnacle of her aspirations, Porte’s program as a highly-paid world tour cyclist is dictated by his team with major races like the Tour de France taking precedence for the 30-year-old general classification contender.
Having contributed nearly half of Tasmania’s 15 Olympians in London, the sport of rowing has been heavily hit by retirements and withdrawals.
Beijing gold medallist Scott Brennan, London silver medallist Kate Hornsey, triple medallist Anthony Edwards and fellow Olympians Dana Faletic, Sam Beltz and Tom Gibson have all called time on elite rowing while 2012 lightweight reserves Ali Foot and Blair Tunevitsch are having time away from the sport.
This leaves Tasmanian rowing with two strong candidates for Rio selection at both extremes of the experience spectrum.
Veteran Kerry Hore is targeting her fourth Olympics 12 years after winning a bronze medal in Athens.
The 34-year-old has been part of a quad scull crew that has rowed together for three years, won silver at the latest world cup regatta in Lucerne and is considered among Australia’s strongest medal prospects.
Huon clubmate Ella Flecker, 26, and Victorian Alice McNamara have made the national women’s lightweight double scull their own ahead of the world championships in France at the end of this month which double as Olympic qualification.
Not since 1988 has track and field failed to provide a Tasmanian Olympian and Hobart javelin thrower Hamish Peacock appears destined to prolong that record.
The 24-year-old Commonwealth Games bronze medallist has shown impressive consistency in the Diamond League meets to establish himself as Australia’s top-ranked performer.
Cluan basketballer Adam Gibson will also be chasing another taste of the Olympics having been part of the Boomers team that gave the mighty USA team a scare before going out in London.
The 28-year-old point guard, whose decade-long NBL career spans four clubs, remains a regular member of the national team and is currently playing in a European series against Lithuania and Slovenia ahead of Olympic qualifiers against New Zealand.
Fellow Boomer Hugh Greenwood is considered more of a long-shot for Rio despite the Hobart 23-year-old making a big impression on the US college circuit and being invited to NBA training camps.
Launceston triathlete Jake Birtwhistle could take a huge leap towards Olympic selection this weekend on the same course that will host next year’s event.
A round of the ITU series, Sunday’s race doubles as an Olympic qualifier with a top-10 finish set to deliver nomination to the Australian Olympic Committee.
Georgia Baker, Lauren Perry and Macey Stewart, who have twice combined with Cure to win national team pursuit titles for Tasmania, may find it tough to break into Australia’s world champion team while Hobart’s Scott Bowden could challenge for a Rio ticket behind London Olympian Dan McConnell if Australia is granted a second spot in mountain biking.
Launceston’s Matthew Goss contested the road race in London but Australia’s glut of world tour performers like Simon Gerrans, Adam Hanson, Rohan Dennis and Simon Clarke will make it very difficult for either the 28-year-old or Hobart’s under-23 time trial world champ Campbell Flakemore to make the national team.
Amelia Spence, of Hobart, is on the fringe of the Hockeyroos while Hobart’s injury-plagued 400-metre hurdler Tristan Thomas, Launceston pistol shooter Bailey Groves and Hobart sailor Amelia Catt all remain in contention for Olympic selection.
Launceston trampolinist Jack Penny may come into contention based on his performance at world championships later this year.
In addition to Flecker and Hore, Buckingham’s Meaghan Volker is in the mix in a women’s eight which must finish fifth at the world championships to qualify for Rio while adopted Tasmanians Nick Silcox and Darryn Purcell, both originally of Queensland, are also attempting to help qualify the lightweight four.
The Rio Paralympics could witness a record Tasmanian representation with four athletes rated strong chances.
Launceston shot-putter Todd Hodgetts and Devonport 1500m runner Deon Kenzie both hold world records in their disciplines with Hodgetts having memorably won gold in London four years ago.
Hobart sailor Matt Bugg has been a consistent top-five contender in international races and Queensland-based Devonport swimmer Jacob Templeton has five top-10 finishes at world championships.
UTas students Alistair Chong and Sarah Waitzer are both in the Australian rowing squad as members of a multi-disability crew that must achieve a top-eight world championship finish to qualify.