New Delhi--It was clinical, it was precise and it was all over in less than 13 seconds.
Sally Pearson's response to the disappointment of having a Commonwealth Games gold medal virtually taken away from her only days ago was typical of the mature athlete she has become.
She took to the track at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Monday evening for the final of the 100m hurdles amid greater media exposure than that which followed her silver medal-winning effort at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The performance she produced was all class; she was technically sound over the sticks and kept up a ruthless hunger right through to the finish line to cross in a respectable 12.67, a time good enough to claim a Games record.
It showed Pearson can block out all manner of distractions and maintain a single-mindedness that only the champions possess.
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SCOShe needed to, in light of her disqualification in the 100m final last Thursday where she had crossed the line in first place and initially was awarded the win.
It was only later that officials confirmed she was disqualified for a false start upon an appeal from the English team, despite having allowed her to run following a series of attempts to get the field away.
The whole debacle simply added to what has been a testing 2010 for Pearson.
This actually had its roots prior to the 2009 world championships in Berlin when Pearson had almost been considered the outright favourite to win gold based on her European campaign up until that point.
At the same time, however, Pearson had been troubled by a debilitating back injury and this ultimately cruelled her chances in Berlin, where she finished fifth.
The disappointment of finishing out of the medals took its toll on the Gold Coast native and while continuing to nurse the injury, she even came to the point of considering quitting the event and trying her hand at the heptathlon.
She returned to the hurdles, though, earlier this year but made slow progress competitively, having finished eighth at the New York Diamond League meet in early June with a time of 12.83.
With the encouragement of her coach Sharon Hannan, she persevered and by August her confidence began to return when she clocked a 12.57 to win the Stockholm leg of the Diamond League, the year's fourth fastest time.
The emotion she showed after crossing the line in Delhi had as much to do with the challenging times she encountered, as it did with her much-publicised disqualification.
"Everything, everything from the start of the year until now, everything that has happened in between," Pearson said.
"It's been such a roller-coaster year. I almost didn't want to come because I was so depressed and down since the world championships.
"But this is just pure excitement now."
Sharing the pain
Pearson was not the only Australian athlete who considered withdrawing from Delhi because of self doubt.
Olympic and world champion pole vaulter Steve Hooker had also experienced mixed fortunes this year after capturing the world indoor title in Doha last March.
He then hit turbulent waters in the Diamond League when three times he failed to clear a height and his best results was a pair of second places in New York and Lausanne.
Although Hooker rebounded to post a world-leading height of 5.95m in winning the Continental Cup in Split early last month, he did not arrive in the Delhi in the best frame of mind.
He did the bare minimum in winning the gold in with a clearance of 5.60m and admitted later that there were times when he did not think he would make it to the Indian capital.
There wasn't one, there were 100 moments seriously," Hooker said.
"Getting up and getting into this last month of training and doing absolutely everything right; getting my body right for those two jumps that it took to win here.
"I cannot express to you how hard it was mentally and how precise I had to be."
Physically, Hooker's long season had also taken its toll, having consistently been competing outdoors since February.
"Your body wants to break down, it's not meant to do that," he said.
"I've really just been using and abusing my body this year."
Pearson too, is now more mindful about looking after her body and she is taking on some valuable lessons in her build-up to the London Olympics in 2012.
"This (Delhi) is the start of many titles to get," she said.
"I've got world champs next year and Olympics the year after, so I've got two tough years coming up.
(source:abc.net.au)
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