Kim Mickle Javelin Prac Photos by Theron Kirkman Photo

Long and the short

“A lot of people think because you’re a thrower, you must have to be massive and heavy, but javelin throwers, if you look at them, are fit as fiddles. Many of them could be heptathletes. But while I’m the same sort of size as the other girls, I’m a little shorter than you’d probably expect for my event. [Mickle is 168cm and weighs 69kg.] I’m average height for a regular person, it’s just that when I stand around the world’s best throwers, I look kind of short.

“In fact, I think I’m the smallest elite thrower. And, of course, the javelin is way taller than I am – if I’m on my tippy-toes I can just reach the top of it. When I first started throwing, someone told me I’d never be any good at javelin because I was too small. I feel pretty good about already proving that person wrong...

“I’ve relied on my arm my whole life. I’ve probably got one of the fastest arms in the world in terms of being able to throw a javelin. Sometimes we call my style the ‘arm bash’ – a typical Aussie way of how to do it, relying a bit on the old cricket backyard upbringing.

“One thing I’ve had to learn to do is hold my positions, and wait and wait and wait, and let my body do the work instead of just my arm. It’s hard to concentrate on doing that when you know you’ve got a really fast arm ready to rip. That’s one thing I’ve had to work on, and it’s going to really help me reach the longer distances.

“What I know is that what I lack in height, I gain in speed and agility. A lot of the girls lose their speed because they’re so tall. I get mine through my fast arm, and hopefully by the Olympics I’m using my body to work with my arm to really put together some great throws.”

Pre-selection

“Gaining that pre-selection for London 2012 from my Worlds performance is a huge benefit, especially since I’m coming back from an injury as well. If I didn’t have pre-selection, I probably would’ve had to rush my rehab and recovery, which is never a smart thing to do. You rush a rehab and you can carry an injury forever. So, since I was pre-selected, we could take the

right amount of time to fix up my rib and

oblique problems.

“Our planning is going perfectly. Obviously with the injuries I’ve had, I can’t do anything but cop it, work hard to get through them and look ahead. But I think we’re in a brilliant position now to not just make the final in London, but to mix it with the big medal hopes and give them a real run for their money. I can’t wait.”

‒ Travis Cranley