Olympic Qualified - Debbie
1 October 2007
OOOH WHAT A FEELING !
First NZ women to qualify for the NZ Triathlon Olympic Triathlon Team in Beijing.
A goal... a dream... a success!!! I did it! It wasn't until I crossed the finish line that I allowed myself to realise that I had qualified, well maybe the last kilometre realisation started to kick in! I was trying to block out the thoughts until I had finished because you never can be 100% sure until you cross that line and although I was quite comfortably in the top 10 (2 NZ women in the top ten to qualify) you never know what can happen in a triathlon race.
This whole year for me was about this race, actually, truthfully the last couple of years have been about making the NZ Olympic team. There have been many stepping stones and goals achieved and not achieved along the way.
From achieving what I set out to do I have gained the confidence to know that I can mix it up with the best in the world but it is also what I have not achieved in some races that I have learnt the most from and this has given me the drive and determination to keep striving higher.
I have not been able to do this if it wasn't for my support team like any good athlete there is a group of people behind the scene supporting and encouraging them. I have the V8 engine of support team behind me, honestly my coach Pete Pfitzinger and swim coach Damian Pedreschi have put in an enormous amount of time and energy into the programme and even though I am the one out there pounding the pavement they are the ones behind the scenes making me work harder and smarter, making the programme work!
Then of course there is my family and sponsors that a huge thank you goes out to, the phone call home from the other side of the world can make all the difference and of course backing and continuous support from sponsors makes all of this possible.
I arrived back in NZ yesterday morning and again what a feeling.. I have been longing for a good coffee and NZ style breakfast for a long time, no where can be better than home! So I am taking a few weeks off before getting started again and am looking forward to spending some quality time on the couch in front of the tv relaxing and catching up with everyone.
Here is an extract from Triathlon NZ:
Beijing, China: Debbie Tanner upstaged her more favoured Kiwi rivals to secure a nomination to the New Zealand Olympic Committee for the 2008 Beijing Games Triathlon with a 4th place at the BG World Cup Triathlon in Beijing today.
From the moment the New Zealanders exited the water in close proximity it seemed they had eyes only for each other, working together to spur their chase group to close the gap on the leading group of cyclists towards the end of the 40km ride.
Once on the run however, Tanner and Warriner moved clear of Hewitt who struggled through a difficult patch midway through her run. From that moment it became a question of which one of Tanner or Warriner would finish as the leading Kiwi, but also could both finish inside the top ten and earn nomination to the NZOC.
This they both managed to do comfortably, with Tanner pipped for a podium by American Lisa Bennett in a sprint finish.
The Aucklander was delighted with her form.
"On any other day I wouldn't want fourth but today it feels absolutely fantastic, to qualify for Olympics was the dream and the goal for this year and I am so thrilled. It is an amazing feeling to race in the New Zealand uniform at any time but I am going to be so proud to wear the silver fern at the Olympics. This is a dream I've had since I was a kid and I've achieved that today.
"The whole year was about building strength for this course, every race a stepping stone to today. This is more than just me; it is the work of a team behind me, Pete Pfitzinger (overall coach), Damien Pedreschi (Swim
coach) and my family and supporters. I came here knowing I had done the hard work and raced as hard as I could and it has paid off."
Tanner was quick to acknowledge the keen competition within the team.
"With the quality of our athletes this was always going to be hard, we have four of the best in the world and to race them is to race the best in the world. You couldn't get a better preparation than that."
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