COMPETING at the Olympics is a dream many athletes never reach.
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Being able to complete at an Olympics on your home soil is a much rarer occurrence.
For javelin competitor Adrian Hatcher, who grew up in Horsham, he has very much in the right place in his career at the right time as he bolted towards an appearance at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
“It was through school at Horsham Tech and my sport teacher at the time Lindsay Burgoyne, who went onto become my coach, that I started being involved with athletics,” he said.
“I did Little Athletics as a child but it wasn’t until I was in high school that my track and field abilities developed.
“I didn’t have a bad arm when I played cricket as a junior and then at the carnivals I started to throw longer than the other children, and I enjoyed seeing how far I could actually throw a javelin.”
As a junior competitor, road trips down the Western Highway to compete were common for Hatcher.
“Athletics was a bit limited in regards to that further development, so we would travel to compete in Ballarat pretty often,” he said.
“We would travel to Ballarat during the season and I would train in Horsham. I enjoyed the training and fitness side of it and wanted to better myself. As a child my dream was to compete for Australia at the Olympic Games.”
Hatcher moved to Ballarat after school to further his development as an athlete.
“You don’t really mature as a power athlete until you’re in your mid-20s,” he said.
“I wasn’t the best athlete at the time after school, but I moved to Ballarat which was the right move for me to progress if I wanted to achieve my dreams. There was an athletics track there and I could go down and compete in Melbourne on a fortnightly basis, on a Thursday night.”
Hatcher was working full-time for Telstra at the time and training heavily as well.
“It was full on but I enjoyed the work and I just loved training,” he said.
“Training for javelin is a combination of a lot of things. You train like the sprinters would do but also do a lot of weight lifting. That was a huge factor to be able to convert that strength into your throw. Technique was very important too.”
Hatcher started competing in state and national titles and when he about 24 he started to think he could make it to a Commonwealth Games standard.
“I was probably top two in Victoria and top three in Australia at the time, and the aspirations were there but I was a bit off the Olympic standards,” he said.
Injuries hurt his chances of having a crack at the 1996 Olympics and Hatcher moved to Wollongong.
“I started training with the national champion in Andrew Currey in Wollongong and Lousie McPaul, who won a silver medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,” he said.
“I decided if I wanted to progress further I needed a change and I moved in 1996 and everything fell into line. I was able to organise a transfer for work so I could stay in my job.”
The move to Wollongong had immediate benefits for Hatcher. It marked the start of a four-year period in which he would compete at world championships, Commonwealth Games and ultimately the Olympics in 2000.
“Six months after I moved I competed at the state titles in New South Wales and won that with a throw which qualified me for the world championships for that year,” he said.
“I competed in the world championships in Athens in 1997. That was my first time in Europe and first time on a major team, so I was a bit out of my comfort zone. It was a great experience.
“My performances weren’t that great and I’m not sure what that was down to, but it was probably a bit of inexperience and coming onto the scene a bit later.”
Following the world championships, Hatcher continued to train with Currey but went into the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur with an injury.
“My training stepped up but I went in with an elbow injury unfortunately and I think I ended up finishing in the top eight,” he said.
“It was disappointing but I came back and had elbow surgery after that, which put me out for about six months. I still have some issues with my body now and that’s just what happens.”
After recovering from the surgery, Hatcher set his sights on competing at the Olympics.
“There is a selection process and you have to qualify. The standard was an 82-metre throw. I had a good season in 2000 and had some good throws over that standard,” he said.
“I spent a couple of months competing in the circuit in Europe, which was a good lead-up to the games. Then I came home and we had our selection trials.”
Hatcher qualified for the Olympics, and to make it all the more special, the Olympics in 2000 were hosted in Sydney.
“To compete in the Olympics is an achievement in itself, but to do it in your home country is just an outstanding honour,” Hatcher said.
“Walking into the stadium for the opening ceremony is something you can’t describe. Hearing that roar when they announced Australia it was mind blowing. The stadium just erupted.”
Hatcher finished 21st at the Olympics.
“My best throw was 79.23 metres, five metres off my personal best,” he said.
“I went in with an open mind and the day was a beautiful sunny day. I had a foul and would have liked to have thrown better. I was in good shape leading up to it and had a couple of throws around my personal best, which was 84 metres. The winner threw 90 metres.”
“My family saw me compete. A lot of people don’t have that opportunity.”
After the Olympics, a serious shoulder injury at the national titles in 2001 basically ended Hatcher’s career.
“It was just one of those things and I tried to come back but it just wasn’t the same,” he said.
“It was hard giving it away. No one wants to retire on an injury and I was turning 31 and felt I had more in me. It is tough to go from training to not doing anything.”
After his career, Hatcher returned to Horsham in 2011 for the unveiling of the Adrian Hatcher Fitness Track named in honour of his career.
“It was a great honour and not something I expected. I had great support and fundraising from the community in my career,” he said.
Hatcher still lives in Wollongong and him and his wife Marnie have a son, Mason. Most of his family still lives in the Wimmera.
“I’ve been in Wollongong for 20 years so I guess I’m a local now,” he said.
“My son Mason is only 10 but he is having a bit of fun with sport and playing a bit of football and a bit of athletics. If the opportunity came up for him to do what I did, of course I would help him do whatever I could to see him achieve that.”