Youth Olympian Joshua Cowley likened to world and Olympic hurdles champion Sally Pearson

The coach of Youth Olympian Joshua Cowley, Stacey Taurima, has likened his resilient attitude to that of world and Olympic hurdles champion Sally Pearson in a glowing endorsement.

Youth Olympian Joshua Cowley, a Brisbane State High School student who was raised in the Algester area.

The coach of Youth Olympian Joshua Cowley has likened his resilient attitude to that of world and Olympic hurdles champion Sally Pearson in a glowing endorsement.

An Algester Little Athletics junior raised in Calamvale, Cowley will represent Australia at the Youth Olympics which startin Argentina during early October.

Stacey Taurima, one of the head coaches of the Youth Olympic squad, said Cowley was a rare diamond with a ruthless attitudegenerated by a school of hard knocks.

Sally Pearson during the Opening Ceremony for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

“I coach a lot of our top jumpers and sprinters and Joshua is the toughest athlete mentally I have had,’’ Taurima said of the Brisbane State High School student.

“As a coach it is one of these things you always wait for - the day you get a talented athlete who has the commitment. “Joshis 100 per cent commitment and 100 per cent athlete and that is very rare.

“Sally Pearson, she is 100 per cent committed,a true student of her craft and that is why she is so successful. “She makes tough decisions that don’t allow them to do normalthings, but that is what make them great. “He (Joshua) is getting to that mould as well.’’

Joshua Cowley as a child competing for Algester in the Little Athletics State Carnival.

Taurima said he first started coaching Cowley in primary school when he could never progress beyond district level.

He said those disappointments, rather than deter him, drove Cowley ruthlessly forward.

He said as a result of those setbacks, Cowley was mentally tough. “I have seen him go through all the defeats,’’ Taurima said.

“I watched Josh go through that stage and he stuck with the sport. “His technique has caught up with his maturity and so farhe is that perfect specimen — they are very rare.’’