Weather huge concern for hammer ace O’Keeffe

EILEEN O’KEEFFE has had one eye on the weather forecast in the hours leading up to today’s defence of her hammer title at the Woodies DIY national track and field championships at Morton Stadium.

The reason for her concern is the condition of the throwing circle at headquarters where a surface that is inconsistent, to say the least, can be outright dangerous for a thrower of her strength and speed if it gets wet.

“The circle needs to be dry,” she said. “For some reason somebody decided to put a plaster finish on it which was never the right thing to do and, to make matters worse, some of the plaster is now worn so that it is very inconsistent. Your feet can go from under you if it happens to be wet.”

But facilities have never been conducive to throwing in this country despite a tradition that goes back to the late great double Olympic hammer champion, Dr Pat O’Callaghan.

O’Keeffe will be bidding for her seventh successive hammer title today and the prevailing conditions would appear to be the only threat to that burning ambition as she builds up to next month’s world championships in Osaka.

Osaka can be regarded as her first really serious attempt at a major championship on account of the fact that she has recently become a full time athlete and joined the successful Jim Kilty group for strength and conditioning.

And that has already been reflected in competition. Two years ago she made it into the top 50 in the world with a 69.36 throw from the infamous circle in Santry.

Last month she jumped up to 27th in the rankings when she set a new Irish record at 69.44m at the European Cup in Vaasa. That throw was just six centimetres short of the qualifying standard for the Olympic Games. But it is not just the record that has pleased her – it’s the consistency that she has brought into her throwing.

“So far it has been a great year for me,” she said. “I started out with a universities record, progressed a few centimetres at the Leinster championships and then breaking the national record. I am 27th in the world at the moment and I would hope to build on that. It would be nice to throw 70 metres consistently and then, if you get into a final, at a major championships anything can happen.”

Jim Kilty feels confident Eileen O’Keeffe is ready to throw 70 metres and further. “I would predict that she will be consistently over 70m before too long,” he said.

Last month she became a full time athlete and that was important not just from a training point of view but from the point of view of resting between training sessions according to Kilty.

She, herself, admits that her job as a nurse working full time in the operating theatre at the busy Beaumont hospital was pretty demanding.

“I love it but I decided to take leave of absence for the first time to train and I must admit it makes life easier now that I am not coming home late and trying to fit in my sessions,” she said.

“Jim is looking after my strength and conditioning but, technically, I am going with my own style because it appears to be working at the moment.

“A couple of years ago I went over to Hungary and when we began to introduce changes to my technique it actually put me back a lot.

“I am not saying that I won’t have an expert to help me with technique at some time in the future. But I just feel that now – approaching the world championships – is not the right time. It is going to be a longer process and I am open to suggestions.”

As a youngster she was involved in other events but, for some particular reason, she was always drawn towards the hammer.

“I remember I did shot, discus and javelin but I would always watch the hammer at the national championships — I was intrigued by it,” she recalled.

“Then, one day, my brother, Michael, came across a video on hammer throwing in the Pound Shop. Straight away I became addicted.

“My father made a concrete throwing circle for me on the farm and I would practice for hours.”