All in a fortnight’s work: Dr Mackenzie Little saves man from a heart attack, wins world javelin bronze

Tokyo: Winning a world championship bronze medal was barely the second-best thing Dr Mackenzie Little did in the past fortnight.

Little took off her stethoscope and got off a plane after a few nights of night shift at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney and saving a man from a massive heart attack in front of her.

She arrived in Tokyo and threw the javelin further than anyone in the world with her first throw in anger.

Unfortunately, while that impressive 65.54-metre throw was enough to qualify her for the javelin final, and further than the eventual gold medal winner threw in the final, distances thrown in qualifying rounds do not carry over into the medal round. Only one competitor threw farther than Little in qualifying.

Little’s first throw in the final was 63.58m. It was solid, but unlikely to be a knockout blow. It was enough to put her in the frame, but unlikely to let her keep the focus. And it didn’t. Ecuador’s Juleisy Angulo took the gold with her second throw of 65.12m.

Little stayed in the silver position right up to her last throw, when she was leapfrogged by Latvian Anete Sietina, who threw 64.64m. Little had one last attempt to try to claim gold, or get back into silver, but she knew by then she was cooked.

“I spent the whole competition visualising the fact that someone would overtake me,” Little said.

“That’s what I prepared for. I kind of sat on the side thinking, you know, they’re gonna throw further. I knew there were so many girls that could have, and every time someone came down the runway... I really just tried to activate again and get ready for throwing further because I knew I can throw further.

“I did it yesterday. So, you know, the whole time I tried, it just wasn’t quite there. But I couldn’t be happier with the medal, particularly if you’d spoken to me two days ago, to say that I had a medal today, I’d be just thrilled.”

The bronze matched Little’s bronze medal from the last world championship in Budapest and came after a disappointing Paris Olympics where she was eliminated after three rounds in the final and finished 12th.

“After Paris it was really hard to maintain that sense of self-belief and maintain that motivation for training,” Little said.

“It took me months after Paris to really get back into it again. So this just helps so much.”

Keep in mind that she is a young doctor who has had to fit training in around the onerous hours of residency, and has gone into deficit in her annual leave just to be here in Tokyo.

There is something a little wrong in Australian sport funding when more support isn’t available for athletes who are able to walk and chew gum, but don’t have the money to buy the gum.

Before coming to Tokyo for the world champs, she did three nights in emergency, was on call for another night, and then did a Sunday night shift.

“I think that part of work just... makes the stress of competition more manageable. I think that’s why I’m able to execute on the first throw sometimes.

“I feel like I thrive in the high-pressure situations. At least, that’s what I say in my surgical interviews.

“I’m someone who likes being busy, and I like having that pressure, and I can compete and thrive in it.”

Meanwhile, lurking in the background of Australia’s renaissance as a sprinting nation – the rise of Gout Gout, Lachie Kennedy, Rohan Browning and Torrie Lewis – is that the ancillary benefit might be in relay medals.

It’s an alogical idea, if you can not only be quick, but do the fundamental thing in the race right – get the baton around the track. And at that fairly significant component of racing, Australia is terrible.

Australia’s 4x100 women’s and 4x400 men’s relay teams both fumbled the baton changes and were disqualified. The 4x400m women handled the baton change but were just a bit slow.

There are swings and roundabouts in relays. In the equivalent men’s 4x100m race, Australia was poised to be eliminated, only for Great Britain– leading the race for three of the four legs – to decide to ignore the passing of the baton, run like schoolboys, and be eliminated. With team GB out, Australia went through to Sunday night’s final.

This is proof in relays that the four quickest runners don’t always win – the best relay team wins. Look it’s revolutionary thinking, sure, but just something to bear in mind.

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