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thletics athletics
rise of the rangas!
4Steve Hooker is the most recent global sporting star with red hair, continuing a long tradition of successful rangas in other sports such as Boris Becker (tennis), Jack Nicklaus (golf) and Shaun Pollock (cricket).
Tallent and Milburn had quieter seasons compared to their Beijing success; although Tallent broke the Australian 5000m walk record, Milburn didn’t manage to replicate the same level of performance that saw him run 44.80 seconds in the 400m last year, but still managed selection A ranga, of course, being the for the world championships. sometimes derogatory but more often The real revelation of the season than not Australian colloquial term was the ranga with the brightest of endearment for a red head. The hair of all, Tristan Thomas. The term’s derivation - a contraction of former Tasmanian, who the word orangutang – is has been based at the somewhat apt considering Australian Institute of Sport the level of performances It’s the rise of the rangas this year. It’s in Canberra for the last few achieved recently, which going to be a very good year for red heads. years, has always had the is not too disimilar from promise to do something on the superhuman strength the world stage. wind conditions and unsuccessfully that the red furred apes possess. While still at school in 2003, attempted 6.10m, but dominated For example, take Steve Hooker. Thomas took an unprecedented Evgeniy Lukyanenko, the Olympic Olympic champion. Olympic record quadrella at the Australian All holder. It would have been easy silver medalist and man ranked Schools championships, winning for him to bask in the limelight of number one in the world last year by the 200m, 400m, 800m and the his success in Beijing during the the esteemed Track & Field News. domestic season and just worry He followed this up with a impressive 400m hurdles, the event that he has consistently shown most promise about the world championships in 5.80m at the World Athletics Tour meet in Melbourne, before having to in. He was selected in that event for Berlin in August. Instead, he took take time off to rest a knee injury that the 2006 Commonwealth Games, his vaulting into almost unchartered he had been carrying the whole time. but didn’t progress out of the heats territory only visited before by the First Steve Hooker, then Jared Tallent and Joel Milburn, now Tristan Thomas. Australian athletics is being dominated by rangas!
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legendary Sergey Bubka. Not once, but twice did Hooker improve his personal best in indoor competition in the United States and Europe. Clearing 6.06m and moving to number two all-time is impressive in itself, but having the ability to back his tenacity to attempt to better Bubka’s world record of 6.15m is another. When he returned to Australia he cleared a 5.95m at the Sydney Track Classic in difficult
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