- Title: ATHLETICS-WORLD/RUDISHA-ENNIS-HILL Top athletes gear up for world championships
- Date: 20th August 2015
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (AUGUST 20, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF U.S. SPRINTER TORI BOWIE, AND BRITISH OLYMPIC HEPTATHLON CHAMPION JESSICA ENNIS-HILL WALKING WITH MEDIA BOWIE, HILL AND KENYAN OLYMPIC 800 METRE CHAMPION AND WORLD RECORD HOLDER DAVID RUDISHA SITTING ON BENCH (SOUNDBITE) (English) OLYMPIC HEPTATHLON CHAMPION, JESSICA ENNIS-HILL, SPEAKING: "Yes, obviously a nervous time for me when I'm getting ready for the hurdles, it's my first event of the two days, so I'm very, very nervous, very anxious, I'm trying to get the best warm-up that I can possibly get in without overdoing it, 'cause when you're nervous and the adrenaline's going, you tend to want to do a bit too much. And then when you get in here, it's that feeling of I've done all I can do now, I've done the training, you know, done all my warm-up, and I'm ready to go, and there's not much I can change, so, it's that feeling of sitting here, contemplating, getting all your thoughts together, and then getting out there and performing. So this quite a yeah, a nervous field area before I race." HILL, BOWIE, AND RUDISHA POSING FOR PHOTO (SOUNDBITE) (English) OLYMPIC 800 METRE CHAMPION DAVID RUDISHA SAYING: "You know, the most important thing is all about how you keep your focus, don't lose that focus, of course, sometimes you get nervous, but it's weird, but you have to think about your race, how you're going to run and just be cool, you know." (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SPRINTER TORI BOWIE, SAYING: "Yeah, I kind of listen to music starting my warm-up, but if the warm-up continues to go on, I kind of take the music, I take my headphones off and try to become more focused on what I'm doing." RUDISHA WALKING AND TALKING HILL WALKING AWAY WITH BRITISH FLAG RUDISHA STANDING WITH MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) KENYAN OLYMPIC 800 METRE CHAMPION DAVID RUDISHA SAYING: "This is the most intense area, and well, it's weird, by now, you know that moment has come, and it's tough, sometimes you don't feel like talking to anybody, you just have to concentrate, focus on your target, and the way you are going to run your race, and especially in 800, you know." (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH OLYMPIC HEPTATHLON CHAMPION JESSICA ENNIS-HILL SAYING: "I like to just kind of sit by myself and kind of have all my thoughts to myself, and don't look at other people too much, don't talk to anyone too much, just kind of be really serious and quite focused." HILL WALKING INTO STADIUM/MEDIA RUDISHSA PUTTING ON SUNGLASSES AND SPEAKING MEDIA INTERVIEWING BOWIE (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SPRINTER TORI BOWIE, SAYING: "Not overwhelming at all, I'm just really excited. Not overwhelmed at all. Overwhelming would be the wrong word if I say overwhelming. I just kind of told .... I'm like a big kid, this is like, this is just awesome. Yes, awesome, I can't wait to spike up and actually see how it feels." (SOUNDBITE) (English) KENYAN OLYMPIC 800 METRE CHAMPION DAVID RUDISHA SAYING: "Back at home, you know, in 2008, and it's just, a wonderful feeling you know, to be back and to be here, it's amazing. Such a big, wonderful city. It's just amazing."
- Embargoed: 4th September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA5BGD29JNQQOJCVGKZESB6MKM3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, Olympic men's 800 metres champion David Rudisha and American sprinter Tori Bowie visited Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium and talked about their preparations for the world athletics championships which begin on Saturday (August 22).
Two days before the start of the championships, the athletes took the media through their pre-race routine, from the warm-up area through two call rooms and onto the track.
Ennis-Hill, who returned to competition in May after taking time off to have a baby, said she gets nervous before the start of competition.
"When I'm getting ready for the hurdles, it's my first event of the two days, so I'm very, very nervous, very anxious, I'm trying to get the best warm-up that I can possibly get in without overdoing it, 'cause when you're nervous and the adrenaline's going, you tend to want to do a bit too much," the Briton said on Thursday (August 20).
"And then when you get in here, it's that feeling of I've done all I can do now, I've done the training, you know, done all my warm-up, and I'm ready to go, and there's not much I can change, so, it's that feeling of sitting here, contemplating, getting all your thoughts together, and then getting out there and performing. So this quite a yeah, a nervous field area before I race," she added.
Ennis-Hill decided to take part in the world championships following impressive performances at the Diamond League meeting in London, where she recorded three season's bests across two consecutive days.
"I didn't have any niggles through my Achilles, which have been troubling me previously, so they felt good. I just felt a little bit stiff but nothing major. I was really happy to come away from doing three events that close together in that stay. So yeah, I think it was quite an easy decision to sit down with Tony, and just, you know, having come away with those kind of times and distances, that we were, you know, hopefully going to be ready to compete here," Ennis-Hill said.
On her way to victory in the 2012 London Olympics, Ennis-Hill clocked 12.54 seconds in the 100 metres hurdles and the Briton is hoping to set a similar time on Saturday when the heptathlon begins.
"If you can bring it all together, and I felt really good in London lining up for the race, yeah a really good time, I'm really pleased with that, so if I can replicate something similar to that on Saturday, then that gives me a really good start for the heptathlon," Ennis-Hill added.
Rudisha, who is also the world record holder for the men's 800 metres, knows he is not back in the sort of form where he can control races but still thinks he will be battling it out for gold at the world championships next week.
The 26-year-old Kenyan has run six of the eight fastest times ever over two laps, including the world record of one minute 40.91 seconds he clocked to win gold in one of the highlights of the London Olympics.
A severe knee injury robbed him of the chance to defend his world title in Moscow two years ago and subsequent calf problems have left him unable to set the punishing pace that once laid waste to his rivals.
Nijel Amos will go to Beijing as title favourite having beaten Rudisha in six of the seven races in which they have gone head-to-head since the London final, when the Botswanan was taken from the track on a stretcher after winning silver.
Rudisha, who won his first global title in Beijing, said he was pleased to be back in the city.
"It's just, a wonderful feeling you know, to be back and to be here, it's amazing. Such a big, wonderful city. It's just amazing," the Kenyan said.
Bowie, who suffered a hamstring injury in 2014, has worked her way back to the top this season. In June, the American won the women's 100 metres at the US Championships with a time of 10.81 seconds and is excited to be in Beijing.
"I'm just really excited. Not overwhelmed at all. Overwhelming would be the wrong word if I say overwhelming," Bowie said.
"I'm like a big kid, this is like, this is just awesome. Yes, awesome, I can't wait to spike up and actually see how it feels," she added.
The championships start on Saturday (August 22). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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