{"id":111949,"date":"2021-08-05T03:54:52","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T03:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=111949"},"modified":"2021-08-05T07:59:16","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T07:59:16","slug":"how-bol-feat-shattered-aussie-glass-ceiling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=111949","title":{"rendered":"How Bol feat shattered Aussie glass ceiling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ralph Doubell<\/a> says "you need role models" and believes Peter Bol's magnificent Tokyo campaign<\/a>, which culminated in the South Sudanese-Australian finishing fourth in the men's 800m final<\/a>, has inspired future generations.<\/p>\n

An Australian male hasn't won Olympic gold on the track since Doubell conquered the men's 800m final at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, in a run in which he also set a new national record and equalled the world benchmark.<\/p>\n

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

Doubell got serious about athletics as he studied science at the University of Melbourne, his passion ignited by Australian middle-distance legends Herb Elliott and John Landy, who were among the youngster's idols.<\/p>\n

Elliott won gold in the men's 1500m final at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, he's a former world record holder of the 1500m and mile, and he ran a sub-four-minute mile on 17 occasions in an era in which doing it once was rare.<\/p>\n

Landy won bronze in the men's 1500m final at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, was the second man to break the four-minute barrier in the mile, behind Roger Bannister, and is a former world record holder of the 1500m and mile.<\/p>\n

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"Those two were clearly the world's best at one stage and showed as an Australian that there was no handicapping; being from Australia, you can reach the top," Doubell told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"And I think that's what Peter has demonstrated; that you can get to an Olympic final even if you do come from Australia.<\/p>\n

"I think this could be … the emergence of some better running from Australian middle-distance runners. Peter showed that you can do it and you can get to the final.<\/p>\n

"Hopefully it gives some motivation to (Stewart) McSweyn in the 1500m, for him to try to replicate what Peter has done.<\/p>\n

"And I think going forward it should give encouragement to other middle-distance runners, that they can get to a final and be a medal contender.<\/p>\n

"So I want to see it as a dawn of a new era."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Doubell is unapologetic in his stance that Australia's men have, overall, performed terribly on the track for a long time.<\/p>\n

Just four Australian men have qualified for an 800m or 1500m Olympic final since the 1968 Games: Doubell, Graham Crouch (1500m at Montreal 1976), Ryan Gregson (1500m at Rio 2016) and Bol.<\/p>\n

In another indication of the concerning lack of success for Australian men on the track in recent decades, the national 800m record set by Doubell at the 1968 Olympics – 1:44.30 – stood for 49 years.<\/p>\n

It was eventually broken by Bol's chief training partner, fellow South Sudanese-Australian Joseph Deng, at a Diamond League meet in Monaco in July 2018, when he registered a 1:44.21. Deng competed in Rio but was ruled out of the Tokyo Games due to injury.<\/p>\n

Bol twice set a new Australian record in his sparkling Tokyo campaign, posting a 1:44.13 in the opening round and a 1:44.11 as he won his semi-final heat.<\/p>\n

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But, of course, the recent tremendous performances of Bol and Deng are only rare glimmers of hope.<\/p>\n

"We've had a pretty dismal last 20 years or 30 years," Doubell said.<\/p>\n

"Peter's efforts in Tokyo could be the turnaround … A lot of people were very interested and a lot of people watched it.<\/p>\n

"I think you need role models for kids to aim to achieve the same level, or exceed the level, which people have performed at.<\/p>\n

"And Peter has certainly, I think, become very popular and has performed extremely well and is a very good role model."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/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<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ralph Doubell says "you need role models" and believes Peter Bol's magnificent Tokyo campaign, which culminated in the South Sudanese-Australian finishing fourth in the men's […]<\/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\/111949"}],"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=111949"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111951,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111949\/revisions\/111951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}