If you're good enough then you're usually old enough

ATHLETICS:The reality in athletics is if you're not competitive at a young age then chances are you won't be as you get older

SIX BROKEN collarbones, three cracked ribs, a broken nose, a broken elbow, a broken wrist, a broken head of the femur, a broken shoulder blade, a collapsed lung, numerous lacerations of the face, arms and legs, and near mutilation by a barbed-wire fence. Not forgetting those missing in action.

This isn’t the latest casualty list from Afghanistan just uncovered by WikiLeaks, these are just some of the injuries sustained by riders during the first 13 stages of the Tour de France. Welcome to Hoogerland, indeed – “all majorly suffering”, as Seán Kelly would say.

Those still in the race may well have taken advantage of yesterday’s stage finish at Lourdes, to either seek some miraculous cure for their wounds, or else a simple blessing, to help them through the Alps next week. As tough and exhausting as the Tour has already proved, the worst is yet to come: this year marks 100 years since the first Alpine stage, and in celebration is taking in all the classics – including the infamous Galibier (twice) and the iconic L’Alpe-d’Huez. Indeed the 2,645-metre finish at the Galibier next Thursday is the highest in Tour history. I’ll be watching those climbs very closely, believe me.

What this year’s race has again proven is that the Tour is no country for young men. All those at the top of the general classification are well into their 20s, or older – including Thomas Voeckler in the Maillot Jaune (32), Cadel Evans (33), Ivan Basso (32), and Samuel Sanchez (33). Nicholas Roche is among the youngest of them at 27, although few doubt his best Tours are ahead of him (his father Stephen was 28 when he won in 1987).

It’s not just about maturity and experience, but having the strength and will to survive what is unquestionably the greatest test of human endurance, at least on two wheels. It’s no offence the “junior” race within the Tour is for those aged 25, or younger. In other words, you have to be over 26 to be considered amongst the “men” of the Tour – and for good reason. Grown men cry daily on the Tour, and not because they’re missing their wives and girlfriends. No wonder some riders end up sourcing specially prepared Spanish veal.

As if I can’t get enough of the Tour – and judging by the astonishing crowds on the road, who can? – my bedtime reading this week has been Laurent Fignon’s autobiography We Were Young and Carefree (published in French, in 2009, as Nous Étions Juenes et Insouciants). It’s poignant – not just because Fignon is best remembered as the man who lost the closest Tour finish (in 1989, by eight seconds) as opposed to the man who won it twice (’83, and ’84), but also because he died of cancer last August, aged 50.

Fignon was just 22 when he rode his first Tour in 1983 – and remains one of the rare few to win it at the first attempt, the others being Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx, and Bernard Hinault. He was and remains the youngest winner since Romain Maes of Belgium in 1935, aged 21, and it’s impossible to imagine anyone younger than Fignon winning a modern Tour.

“My legs and my mind were functioning in complete harmony,” Fignon wrote of that debut Tour victory. “That may sound pretentious but that’s how it was.”

They say if you’re good enough in sport then you’re old enough – but that doesn’t always ring true. Fignon was one of the exceptions in Tour history, because in cycling, if you’re not old enough you’re rarely good enough. Three of the last six Tour winners were in the 30s; Lance Armstrong in 2005 (34), Oscar Pereiro in 2006 (30) and Carlos Sastre in 2008 (33).

Back in the world of athletics, however, if you’re good enough then you usually are old enough. Look at some of our most successful athletes: Ronnie Delany was famously just 21 when he won 1956 Olympic 1,500 metres; Eamonn Coghlan was 22 when he ran European mile record of 3:53.3; John Treacy was only 20 when he won his first World Cross Country title in 1978; Sonia O’Sullivan was 22 when she finished fourth at the 1992 Olympics; and Catherina McKiernan was also 22 when she won the first of four successive silver medals at the 1992 World Cross Country.

That’s why it was so encouraging to see Kate Veale winning Ireland’s first gold medal at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille last Friday. At just 17, Veale delivered a truly commanding performance in the 5km walk, her time of 21 minutes, 45.59 seconds the fourth fastest on the Irish senior all-time list (the three ahead of her were Olympians).

The reality in athletics is if you’re not competitive at that young age then chances are you won’t be as you get older. Consider the “boys” 800m in Lille last weekend – where Kenya’s Leonard Konsecha won in 1:44.08, ahead of Ethiopia’s Mohammed Aman (1:44.68) and fellow Kenyan Timothy Kitum (1:44.98). How fast is 1:44.08? Faster than the Irish senior record of 1:44.82, which has stood to David Matthews since 1995. At 17, it’s fair to assume Konsecha won’t be slowing down as he gets older (and by the way he’s from the same Masai district as David Rudisha, the 800m world record holder).

All this ensures under-age competitions in athletics are intense – but also imperative for development. There will always be some so-called late bloomers, but athletes need to be mixing it with the best at a young age to have any chance of making it on the big stage.

This week’s European Under-23 Championships, in Ostrava, are another important test of that development – and Anthony Lieghio underlined his excellent progress in making the 800m final. He finished sixth yesterday, in 1:48.77, but again the competition was intense, as the gold medal went to Poland’s Adam Kszczot, the European Indoor senior champion, in 1:46.71. Brian Gregan goes in today’s 400m final, and drawn in lane five, should be among the medals if he has serious aspirations of making it in the senior grade, which of course he does.

Next week, Ciara Mageean will look to end her superb junior career on a high note when she competes in 1,500m at the European Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. Mageean has already proved she’s among the best in the world for her age, both good enough and old enough.

Back on the Tour, today marks the last of the Pyrenean stages, and includes six tough climbs, finishing on the Plateau de Beille. The first rider over the Plateau de Beille has always worn the Maillot Jaune at the finish on the Champs-Elysees. Definitely looks like one for the old, experienced legs, and preferably those not already broken.