Prayers paid off for Willis

Nick Willis slapped his face and legs so hard they turned red as he stood on the Bird's Nest Stadium start line.

He'd had his "back cracked'' by his chiropractor, listened to mood music on his iPod and had his regular pre-race prayer with his brother and assistant-coach Stephen.

It was all part of his plan to stay calm for the biggest race of his life.

But now it was time to get the blood flowing into those long limbs which would carry him to bronze medal glory - and a place in a proud pantheon of New Zealand Olympic middle-distance heroes.

An older wiser Willis had learned the lessons from the "young, bold'' version who was "over-hyped in Athens'', imbued with an unshakeable belief he could go out hard and take the semi-final race to world record-holder Hicham El Guerrouj.

This time he was taking no chances. He had hidden himself away in his room at the athletes village, "except to go to meals''.

Willis whizzed through 600 pages of Frank Peretti's The Prophet and chilled out listening to "everything under the sun'', including Brooke Fraser.

He napped when he could, finding sleep easier to achieve than in Athens when he suffered over-analysis paralysis.

By the time he arrived at Beijing's brilliant new stadium Willis was in a zone of his own, although he did notice "the mist or fog'' in the air on an oppressively humid night.

"I normally arrive at the warm-up area an hour before. That gives me time to have my last quiet time. I zone out, I lie down on the massage table, put my headphones on, close my eyes and basically am a zombie for 50 minutes.

Ten minutes of stretches were followed by a 15-20 minute jog, "really, really slow, not much more than walking pace''.

A few brisk stride-throughs and it was time to see his chiropractor. "He cracks my back and gets me straightened out.''

Then he shared a private moment, a regular race-night ritual with brother Stephen.

As kids, they'd stay up in their Lower Hutt home, 12-year-old Stephen, and 8-year-old Nick, watching the Olympics and dreaming of the day one of them would join the five-ring circus.

Now Nick was in the Beijing big-time with Stephen for support. "We've developed a pattern, at the end of my warm-up just before I go to the call room, (where) he'll pray for me,'' Willis said.

Stephen "thanked (God) for everything that had built for this moment. We just wanted to enjoy it... We just offered this race back up to Him, and then I went off to the call room.''

So there Willis was, alongside Africa's elite, Bahrain's Moroccan import Rashid Ramzi, Kenyan flyer Asbel Kipruto Kiprop, his compatriot Gus Choge, El Guerrouj's Moroccan heir apparent Abdalaati Iguider and European aces Mehdi Baala and Juan Carlos Higuero.

Now it was time to start slapping his face and legs, "to try and time my endorphins''. The idea is to "stay calm and composed'' then "get the blood flowing'', to "maximise energy for the start of my race, not 10 minutes before''.

The starting pistol cracked and the race settled into steady pace for the first 600m.

Willis - coach Ron Warhurst's warning to "stay off the rail'' ringing in his ears - cruised through the first two laps in eighth place as the Kenyans "decided to keep it honest''.

"We went through the first 400m in 56.48sec, roughly 3min 30-31 pace..'' Willis says he was "feeling pretty flat'' after a hard heat and semi-final in the broiling Beijing heat.

But he was "running easily on the inside'' and knew the others "jostling'' outside him would suffer as the humidity took its toll.

Still, it was something of a surprise when he heard the final lap bell.

"It felt like there were two laps to go.''

Willis said he tried to maintain composure and to trust that gaps would open up.

His big break came with 280m to go.

"That was my opportunity to seize the day... I went for it. He strode along "in cruise control'' down the back straight, then wound it up with 120m to go.

The front runners had "come back to me'', but he knew he was sprinting for bronze not gold. Ramzi won that, from Kiprop.

With 60m left, Willis was sure the medal was in his maw. But then he glanced at the big screen and saw "the Frenchman coming on the inside".

"I eked out that last inch to dip him over the line. I heard him scream in despair - .23sec separated them.

"That would have been absolutely devastating if I'd got that close and just missed out.''

Baala bellowed, Willis whooped, then flopped to the track, "absolutely stuffed".

Then he tottered off to grab a New Zealand flag from his band of fans who included his wife Sierra and father Richard.

A few metres on, he dropped to his knee in prayer then "broke down in tears'' down the back straight.

Willis wove past a gaggle of big bouncy-ball Beijing mascots, stopping to greet almost every kiwi in the crowd.

He faced a rousing haka from his team-mates near the top of the home straight as he completed the slowest lap of honour in Olympic history, feeling blessed as he savoured his special moment.

 

 

 

- © Fairfax NZ News