Tokyo: Winning a world championship bronze medal was only the second-best thing Dr Mackenzie Little did in the past fortnight.
Little took off her stethoscope and got off a plane after a week 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.
Australian javelin star, Dr Mackenzie Little.Credit: Getty Images
Unfortunately, while that impressive 65.54-metre throw was enough to qualify her for the javelin final, and was further than anyone ended up throwing in the final, distances thrown in qualifying rounds do not carry over into the medal round.
Her first throw in the final was 63.58m. It was solid, but not a knockout blow – enough to put her in the lead, but unlikely to let her keep it. And it didn’t. Ecuador’s Juleisy Angulo took the gold with her second throw of 65.12m.
Little had done enough to keep herself in the silver position right up to her last throw, when she was leapfrogged into the silver by Latvian Anete Sietina, who threw 64.64m. Little had one last attempt to try to claim gold, or get back into silver position, but she tired and was content with bronze – a more than commendable effort.
It matched Little’s bronze medal from the last world championship in Budapest. 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.
