The Real Josh Ross Story
Unfortunate that so much negative press has occurred over some “words” a few days ago. Josh did say that he just wanted an explanation for omission from team. Probably the press release simply did emphasise the boycott issue but the pity is that Josh’s comeback has been remarkable. That has been lost. And with zero, zilch, nada backing from AA till the National titles and at 31.
After 2 years off ( almost 3! ) he ran 49 secs for a 400m in October 2011! Then a 21.5 in interclub club against some kids. Then won Zatopek 100 yards on a wet night. He then hit form in a PRO gift in Queanbeyan with a 12 3 off I think .5m. He continued this form into Bay Sheffield and Burnie but by Xmas had an injury from running too fast, too often over 3 gifts without a base. But it was obvious he could still run fast.
So January was a wipeout and rehab was the issue most of the month. He ran one gift sore and that was it. His body was just adapting to high speed
He then was told he had to race in Adelaide and Melbourne ( Olympic Trials) to be up for selection in London. He ran the B Race in Adelaide and won. Money had to be found for this trip. He then went to Sydney and hit rock bottom off a poor January and came back to Melbourne where he scraped into the final of the Trials with a slow 10 8. Improved to 10 5 in final but was way off hitting form.
We then chatted to Adam Basil, and Piero Sacchetta ( his coach now) then Piero supervised every session and massaged him and managed him day in and day out. He flew to the NSW titles and won in 10 4 ( 2*10 4’s) but more so was getting good food and training in. Time trials over 60m were starting to improve and I watched a session in March where I could see him hitting form again.
Piero was at every session and it was decided to not run after NSW and put emphasis on the Nationals in April. The wind was swirling that night and after a few false starts he easily won in 10 23 vs 8 headwind. IE .05 off A qualifying.
He then went to Canberra on a cold night and had a very minor adductor strain in the warmup a week after Nationals. Just started chase for A Qualifier. Piero went to every race and one has to remember that Athlete and Coach funded these trips. Caroline Wilson totally forgets that athletes like Josh struggle to afford spikes. And what happened in the mid 2000’s with Josh and AA/coaches etc should be in the past. One wonders?
2 weeks rehab and Piero and Josh paying for physios and rehab, Josh was ready again and ran a 10 16 windy in Japan.
After that they simply chased races on The Gold Coast and in Taiwan. Josh ran 10 3 and 10 4 many times and just could not get good conditions. My opinion from the A Qualifier perspecive is that he should have gone to Europe to chase a time and left the relay team to hopefully qualify. But his main emphasis became the relay team in the end and this was almost ruined by a planning disaster in Taiwan. All the relay runners were allowed to run the Individual heats of the 100m. But from what I have been informed, there was a ruling that you could not pull out of the heats/semis etc , otherwise you were out of the relay. So many of the OZ team ran the final ( should only have been Josh given he was close to A qual) and then straight after finals they ran relay and ran poorly. So there was a risk the relay team would miss let alone Josh not getting an A qualifier. Bit of drama!
Josh then chased more races in OZ and ran even in Canberra on a cold night in winter and repeated 10 3 3 times! Team then went back to Japan to make sure they qualified in Relay and Josh did his part for OZ by smashing the field in the last leg and the team was thankfully in the top 15 teams and in the games.
Josh then goes to England and dying to prove he is capable of running low 10’s IF he gets a gig in individual. Piero and Josh were still hopeful about this. From my perspective when the AOC provisionally selected Steffenson as a reserve against AA’s wishes Nick Green didn’t have a leg to stand on. Goalposts had been dug out and chopped up. Why wouldn’t you be desperate to run in Games IF you knew you could beat up people?
I am not going to comment on the fiasco that has occurred with selections and AA and AOC but simply the goalposts changed a million times. BUT Josh could have been provisionally selected in the team as a B qualifier and they could have sat on the decision till now. Piero was always in 100% contact with AA and did everything humanely possible ( and financially) to make sure Josh was 1. Running at his peak for the games & relay 2. Did the right thing by AA from January 2012 onwards. There was little avenue or time frames for appeals.
So it is quite obvious that Josh has stabilized form after 10 23 against a wind in Italy. He has run hard for 2 months so is in form and has repeated 10 3’s against kids in OZ in winter! He is a proven big time performer when in shape. He has done the right thing by the selectors from February.
So the bloke is just desperate to run the Individual 100m and if he was given a chance, bar a false start etc, would have progressed in rounds. At 31 he is out. Did he really say something stupid on Twitter or flash his pee wee on the Web? No he simply is desperate to run hard for himself and his country.
Does he get rich from running. No. Lets keep the media in perspective and the whingeing comments down.
He won’t beat Usain Bolt but he is the best 100m runner we have and would be the best in many nations.
loris bertolacci 