{"id":110827,"date":"2021-08-03T05:30:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T05:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=110827"},"modified":"2021-08-03T07:59:47","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T07:59:47","slug":"the-72-hour-worry-between-bol-and-800m-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=110827","title":{"rendered":"The 72-hour worry between Bol and 800m gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ralph Doubell says he would "love to see" Peter Bol<\/a> win the men's 800m final tomorrow night, making him Australia's first male Olympic<\/a> individual gold medallist on the track since his own taste of glory in 1968.<\/p>\n

But the champion of the men's 800m final at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics fears that Bol<\/a> could be facing a colossal mental battle during the lead-up to the race.<\/p>\n

That's because there's nearly a 72-hour gap between the semi-finals and the final for Bol to navigate, Doubell says.<\/p>\n

OLYMPICS BLOG: UPDATES, NEWS<\/strong><\/em><\/a> |<\/strong><\/em> TOKYO GAMES EVENT CENTRE: SCHEDULE, RESULTS, MEDAL TALLY<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The men's 800m program of the 1968 Olympics saw the heats, semi-finals and final held across three days in succession, meaning there weren't lengthy periods of time between each run for Doubell to be haunted by pre-race demons.<\/p>\n

The Victorian thrived in those three days, not only winning gold but equalling the world record of the time and setting a new Australian benchmark, which would stand for 49 years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Doubell worries that the drawn-out lead-in to the Tokyo final could be straining Bol mentally.<\/p>\n

"I think the challenge is to handle the mental pressure," Doubell told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"We did it a bit different in the old days; we had a heat, semi-final and final on three consecutive days, whereas Bol has two days off and he's going to get a lot of pressure from press saying, 'What if? What if? What if?' He'll get pressure from his coach. 'What if? What if?'<\/p>\n

"The issue Bol is facing is that he's got a 72-hour delay before the final and in that time the mental pressures are likely to build up."<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

Doubell pointed out the impact on mental health in elite tennis and gymnastics in recent times.<\/p>\n

Naomi Osaka of Japan withdrew from Roland-Garros<\/a> after her opening-round match, and she then opted against competing in Wimbledon<\/a>, citing the toll of top-level competition on her mental state.<\/p>\n

America's Simone Biles has taken a similar path during the Tokyo Games<\/a>, removing herself from two gymnastics events to address her mental struggles.<\/p>\n

"I think becoming notable is dangerous," Doubell said.<\/p>\n

"You've got nine people in the final of the 800m and they all have a similar physical capacity to win. It's the person who's got the toughest mental approach that will most likely be the winner.<\/p>\n

"And Bol is going to have new stresses … So it's a challenge for him, but I'd love him to go out and win."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Doubell has pinpointed Kenya's Ferguson Rotich and Botswana's Nijel Amos as Bol's greatest threats.<\/p>\n

While Deng bettered his own Australian 800m record in a time of 1:44.11 in his semi-final heat, Rotich lays claim to a personal best of 1:42.54 and Amos 1:41.73.<\/p>\n

Doubell offered the Australian underdog some pre-final advice.<\/p>\n

"Keep calm, don't listen to the press, avoid the press as much as possible … and think about how he's going to win," Doubell said.<\/p>\n

"Who's the primary competition? I would say it's Rotich and Amos; make sure you're watching where they are.<\/p>\n

"But the whole field, I think, is very, very even, and most Olympic finals are pretty even.<\/p>\n

"You've just got to be tough enough to say, 'I'm going to go out and win this'."<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ralph Doubell says he would "love to see" Peter Bol win the men's 800m final tomorrow night, making him Australia's first male Olympic individual gold […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110827"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110829,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110827\/revisions\/110829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}