Michelle Jenneke: ‘I should have run faster and I didn’t’

MICHELLE Jenneke jiggled her hips in her trademark style as her audience watched, rapt. But it wasn’t a packed stadium enjoying the show.

Nothing went right for Aussie track sensation Michelle Jenneke in her Olympic debut. Picture. Phil Hillyard

MICHELLE Jenneke jiggled her hips from side-to-side in trademark fashion as her fascinated audience watched with excitement.

But it wasn’t a packed Olympic Stadium in Rio enjoying the show.

It was a single Brazilian television “journalist” - which we put in inverted commas because he also asked for a selfie in the area underneath the stadium known as the mix zone where athletes are interviewed after they’ve competed. It was following a race in which the Australian track sensation had bombed out of competition with a disappointing sixth-placed finish in her heat of the 100m hurdles.

Australia's Michelle Jenneke bombed out.

On first impression, Michelle Jenneke is a lovely woman just having fun and doing her best to please everyone around her (she finished her interview with Australian journalists by apologising for running so poorly). But that moment with the Brazilian fan boy (yes, let’s not call him a journalist), highlighted what’s potentially holding back her track career.

In a sport where a large majority of athletes have to scrap and fight for every bit of financial support they can get, Jenneke — who is sponsored by Coke and has been plastered on billboards in Brazil — should not be criticised for finding a way to capitalise on her hard work.

But nothing will dry up the corporate dollar like underwhelming performances and the 23-year-old failed to deliver in her Olympic debut.

Jenneke showed the crowd her famous “jiggling” warm-up.

She entered the stadium carrying a water bottle in her left hand and looked calm and confident. But competitors have come to realise that the athletics stadium at these Games is hardly the monumental stage they’d imagined in their dreams. Particularly during heats in the mornings.

There’s a distinct lack of excitement walking into a half-empty stadium where half the eyes are still on the celebrating triple-jump winner.

The women in heat two were thrown another curveball when officials stopped them from doing any on-track warm-up.

The hurdlers in the opening heat had been allowed to practice, coming out of the blocks and going over the first one or two hurdles, but officials put a stop to it before heat two because they were running short on time.

“It was very unusual. I walked out to put my third hurdle down because usually they have an official that puts your third hurdle down so you can do a warm up over two hurdles (and then run through the third) and they said you can’t do any warm ups,” Jenneke said.

Jenneke before the race.

The Aussie did her best to shake it off — literally — but even her world famous warm-up didn’t really have the impact you’d expect. The reaction from the crowd was minuscule in comparison to the roar Brazilian competitor Maila Machado received when she was announced.

Perhaps the crowd just hadn’t realised the brunette bombshell was down there. Surely they’d notice when she was broadcast on the big screen?

Another disappointment. Because of the pressing time, the stadium announcers cut short the athlete introductions after running through lanes one to five. Jenneke was in lane six. Something was working against her.

“It was a bit unfortunate that it wasn’t quite how I thought it would be and I think that threw me a little bit heading into the race,” she conceded after. “The first start I did out there felt like the practice start, not the real thing.”

Jenneke started strongly but faded at the end of the race.

Despite the bungled preparation Jenneke’s start was fine. It was her finish that let her down. After being in the top three after three hurdles she only went backwards.

“She was one of the first to the first hurdles, she was good to three and then they came straight through her. She will be disappointed with that run,” a Channel 7 commentator said.

The commentator suggested before the race that Jenneke’s decision to prepare for the Games in Australia — rather than going to Europe to compete — had been questionable. But the hurdler denied it was an issue.

“It wasn’t a very good European season to be honest,” she told Seven. “I’m pretty happy with my decision to stay at home, but I think there are some other factors that contributed to that race.

“Unfortunately I’ve had a bit of nerve pain down through my right leg the whole time I’ve been overseas, so the Australian medical team over here has been amazing, I’ve been on the table trying to get it right. Unfortunately I felt it in that race and it inhibited me coming down fast off the hurdles. I’m not making excuses. I should have run faster and I didn’t.”

It was an undeniably disappointing result.

She later described the race to the Aussie press pack as “one of the worst races I’ve ever done” and said she planned to compete more in the lead up to major championships to become more battle-hardened.

But she was also quick to point out that her athletics career isn’t the only thing in her life.

“I’m still young, I still live at home, I’m still very comfortable there, I’m still at university so at the moment athletics isn’t my only plan,” she said.

That’s bad news for the people of Norway. After the Aussie media had run out of questions a Norwegian journalist swooped in to let Jenneke know she’s the most popular athlete in his homeland.

Just not for her performance in these Olympics, unfortunately.