Heidler’s hopes to add Olympic gold to the collection

World Hammer Champion Betty Heidler hopes to be fully fit and ready to start her Olympic campaign at the European Throws Challenge in Split in March.

The German, who landed the gold medal in Osaka earlier this year with a second round throw of 74.76m, has been troubled by a long standing knee injury which caused her to end her season prematurely and miss the end of season IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart.

Heidler, who is based in Frankfurt, has gradually returned to training and said of the prospect of competing in Split: "I'm not sure. I will see how it works with my knee and then make my decision. But if I'm fit, and if everything is okay, I will throw."

The red-headed Heidler, who competed in the European Winter Throws Challenge in 2004 and 2005, is the latest in the never-ending supply line of German throwing talent which shows little sign of slowing down. She made her international breakthrough in 2003, throwing beyond 70m for the first time and finishing 11th at the 2003 World Championships in Paris.

Since then she placed fourth at the 2004 Athens Olympics and fifth at the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg, before enjoying her finest hour in Osaka, striking gold with a composed mature performance.

Inspired by Franka Dietzsch, who struck gold for Germany in the women's discus final in Osaka just 24hrs earlier, Heidler rose to the occasion to win by a mere 0.02m from former two-times World Champion Yipsi Moreno of Cuba.

Heidler started competitive athletics aged 14, and as a young athlete she had a number of German role models she could look up to who were excelling on the international stage.

However, it was not a Lars Riedel or a Franka Dietzsch who she admired most, but Germany's eight-time Paralympic champion Marianne Buggenhagen.

"I trained with her in Berlin and I respect her for how she practises her life and the whole person she is," explained Heidler.

But why does Heidler believe Germany produce so many great throwers?

"It is true the German throwers are very strong athletes," she said. "I can only say the atmosphere between the throwers is very good. Petra Lammert (European Shot Put bronze medallist), Nadine Kleinert-Schmitt (World Shot Put bronze medallist) and I, we send regular emails not just about throwing but also in our private time. We have good team work in the training camp and we also have really good coaches. I think that is possibly the reason we do so well."

Indeed, Berlin-born Heidler credits her recent success down to a more reliable technique honed in training camp with her coach Michael Deyhle.

The 24-year-old has also undergone a number of other changes in her life over the past year. She quit life as a policewoman, where she was working in the border control unit, in February and since October she has started studying for a bachelor of law degree at Hagen University, which she says allows her a valuable release from solely thinking about Hammer throwing.

But for the immediate future Heidler, who has gradually returned to training, hopes her niggling knee problem which she first picked up during a weight lifting session in 2005 will fully clear and this will allow her to focus on her main target for 2008.

"I'm just concentrating on the Olympic Games," she said. "Everyone has a wish to be Olympic champion. But what I will say about next year is that it is a new competition. I know I can win a medal, but it is not a certainty."

Source/Courtesy
European Athletics (EAA)
https://www.european-athletics.org/
<a href="https://www.european-athletics.org">EAA</a>