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SportsOakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 432) Fax 905-337-5571 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 23 By Herb Garbutt OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Sixty metres. That was the magic number. Thats the line between an amateur and a thrower who is competing at a high level, Megann Rodhe explained. Its the 2008 Canadian Olympic trials in Windsor, Ont. and Rodhe has 60 metres in her sights. She whips the 4-kilogram ball attached to a four-foot wire above her head and it picks up speed like the rotors of a helicopter. Then, as if shes being swept up by a tornado, she begins violently spinning counter- clockwise. One, two, three. On her fourth spin, Rodhe, arms fully extended, lets go and heaves the ball skyward. Gravity eventually wins the battle and the ball falls to the ground with a thud. Its close, but is it enough? 59.32 metres. Rodhe finishes fourth. It would be easy to be disappointed but she is keeping things in perspective. After all, its been less than six months since Rodhe threw the hammer for the first time. The fact that I picked it up in February and was doing that by July, I knew then I could do pretty well, she said. Sixty metres would come shortly after. Then 62. At the national championships two months ago in Toronto, she threw 64.17m to earn a bronze medal. Just two years later after picking up the hammer for the first time, Rodhe has a personal best of 65.93m and her sights have been readjusted to 70m a target she hopes to reach before the 2012 Olympics in London. In the meantime, Rodhe (Megann VanderVliet before marrying shot putter Justin Rodhe last year) will work toward that goal when she rep- resents Canada at the Commonwealth Games next month in Delhi, India. Rodhe wasnt completely new to throwing when she took up the hammer, although she has shown a remarkable ability for excelling in new pursuits. The Oakville Trafalgar High School grad went to Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan to play soccer. But when the track coach saw the goalkeepers leg strength, he con- vinced her to come out for the track and field team in the spring. Rodhe qualified for the national Division III champi- onships in shot put in her first year and went on to win con- secutive conference titles in both shot and discus in her final two years at Calvin. After school, Rodhe moved to Kamloops, B.C. to train with Dr. Anatoly Bondarchuk. The Olympic champion and former world record holder felt Rodhes physique was better suited to the hammer throw, the event in which he had won the Olympic gold in 1972. Feeling her performance in discus was leveling off, Rodhe was open to trying a new event. He said, You should try hammer, and I kind of fell in love with it. Its a bit more of an athletic event and its very techni- cal. she said. I was at a point (with discus) where I was OK, I had some growth when I moved to Kamloops but my growth (in the hammer throw) was exponentially greater. Rodhe sees the Commonwealth Games as yet another opportunity to continue her progress in the sport. Its a huge stepping stone, she said. Its my first big inter- national event. She says it will be a valuable experience in preparing for the 2011 world championships and the 2012 Olympics. Though there have been concerns about the athletes vil- lage in India being completed on time some Canadian ath- letes have delayed their arrival and two archers pulled out of the Games amidst the concerns Rodhe said she is only con- cerning herself with what she can control. She said she will continue to train until shes told shes not going. Im aware of it, but mentally I have to be ready to com- pete, she said. Given her track record, it shouldnt take her long to pre- pare. Rodhe takes fast track to Commonwealth Games HAMMER TIME: Oakville Trafalgar High School grad Megann Rodhe will represent Canada in hammer throw at next months Commonwealth Games in India. Rodhe, who began competing in the sport only two years ago, has her sights set on participating in the 2012 Olympics in London. NATHAN LENNIE / SPECIAL TO THE OAKVILLE BEAVER The fact that I picked it up in February and was (throwing nearly 60 metres) by July, I knew then I could do pretty well. Megann Rodhe www.aplushomes.ca Adam Campbell Broker of Record 905-844-4444 B R O K E R A G ER E A L T Y C O R P . INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED