Dobriskey returns on a happier note

Aug 27 2009 by James Hunter, The Journal

WORLD Championship silver medallist Lisa Dobriskey heads to Gateshead on a high next week – a far cry from her last appearance at the International Stadium.

The Commonwealth champion 1500m runner will arrive on Tyneside for the Aviva Grand Prix aiming to repeat her victory in this meet 12 months ago.

But while last year she was still getting over the disappointment of finishing outside the medals at the Beijing Olympics, this time round she is fresh from picking up a silver in the IAAF World Championships in Berlin this month. “It was great to win in Gateshead last year and I would love to do the same again on Monday,” said the 25-year-old.

“But it will feel very different this time. Last year when I raced at Gateshead I was still feeling a bit low after the Olympics. I learned a lot from finishing fourth in Beijing – I feel as though I am a much more aggressive runner and that has helped me.

“And this time I will go to Gateshead having performed well in Berlin, so I am in good shape and hope I can give a good performance in front of a home crowd.”

Dobriskey suffered a miserable winter and spring, which were blighted by stress fractures, but she has come back strongly. “It has been a difficult year for me overall,” she said. “With the type of bone injuries I have had, there are no shortcuts to making it heal properly and you just have to wait for it to repair in its own good time.

“But I am pleased with my recovery and all the hard work paid off in Berlin.”

Dobriskey was elevated from bronze to silver in Berlin after the original winner, Spain’s Natalia Rodriguez, was disqualified for pushing Ethiopian Gelete Burka with 250m to go.

And the Loughborough-based athlete admits that took a bit of the shine off the occasion for her.

She said: “It did leave me with mixed feelings, I have to say.

“No one likes to win a silver medal by default, as it were, but that’s the decision. When you look at the times, I was only one-hundredth of a second off gold but I think you can see that the fall also hindered Maryam Yusuf Jamal [who was elevated to gold] too.”

After the excitement of competing in the Beijing Olympics, Dobriskey is already thinking about London 2012 and dreaming of winning an Olympic medal on home soil.

“It would be an amazing experience to compete in London 2012,” she said.

“I’m lucky to belong to a generation of athletes who have a ‘home’ Olympics to aim for.

“You can see it has given everyone a lift as people start believing in their ability and think about what it would be like to compete in London.

“Obviously, there is a long way to go between now and 2012 but I would hope to be there and maybe this time I can improve on Beijing and win a medal.”