World ranked No.2 javelin thrower Mackenzie Little tells Senior Correspondent Mike Osborne how she juggles being a doctor with the demands of an Olympic gold medal hope.
Mackenzie Little is considering a week of overnight shifts at her Sydney hospital so she can get time-off for some last minute javelin competitions in Europe before the Paris Olympics.
It’s a tough ask but the world championship bronze medallist is used to juggling training and competition schedules with the long hours she works as a junior doctor at the Royal North Shore hospital.
The different names she has in the different facets of her busy life also helps. She’s known as Mack on the sporting track, Kenzy to her friends, Ken to her medical mates and Dr Little to her patients.
“My annual leave and flights to Paris are already booked but a little bit more competition will be beneficial so I’m now looking at whether I can go a bit earlier to get to the London and Monaco Diamond League events,” Little said.
Little is trying to line-up a tight four-week schedule starting with the Monaco meet on July 12, then London on July 20, followed by the Paris Olympic javelin qualifying competition on August 7 with the final set for the last day of Olympic track and field on August 10. And all preceded by a week of overnights working in a high-stress frontline job at a major public hospital.
“I might go on a week of nights just prior to leaving. I can do eight nights and then get eight days off. It’s yet to be decided, but if I can time it right to go earlier that would work and I’d already be over the jet lag and in the right time zone,” Little laughed.
“I’ve already taken my days off very strategically so I can make it to events like the Japan Diamond League. I’m trying to find the balance.”
Little finished second at the Suzhou Diamond League with a throw of 62.12m, behind Japan’s reigning world champion Haruka Kitaguchi, who won with a final throw of 62.97m.
Her next strategic set of days off allowed her to fly to Fiji where she comfortably won the Oceania Championship with 61.09m the day after arriving in Suva.
“To throw 60m straight off the plane is my baseline, I know I can do that and it’s really encouraging,” she said. “So far I haven’t thrown the distances I was getting last year but I hope to be in personal best (65.70m) form in Paris to challenge Kitaguchi and the other top girls.”
Kitaguchi won the 2023 World championships in Budapest ahead of Columbia’s Flor Ruiz with Little taking the bronze.
The other javelin contenders in Paris are likely to include fellow Australians Kelsey-Lee Barber, a two-time world champion, and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games gold medallist Kathryn Mitchell.
“Women’s javelin is one of the open events in Paris and it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. You’ve just got to get yourself to the final and then anything can happen,” she said.
At the Tokyo Olympics all three Australians made the javelin final with Barber taking bronze, Mitchell finishing sixth while Little was eighth.
“It would be perfect to have three Australians in the final again. That was a pretty remarkable feat last time,” Little said, admitting she was lucky to even get to Tokyo.
After four years of study at Stanford University in California, Little moved back to Sydney University in 2020 to complete the next four years of her medical degree.
“I was about to quit athletics because the hours were long and finding time for training was difficult, plus I was coming off a really poor first European season,” the NSW Institute of Sport athlete said.
“Then two things happened, I moved to a new coach in Angus McEntyre and Covid hit. Covid provided a breather because I didn’t have to travel to university and I had more hours in the day.
“I wouldn’t have qualified for the Olympics in 2020 at all, so Covid gave me the time to work with Angus and qualify for Tokyo 2021. A lot of things lined up at the end of the day including getting over some niggling injuries I had at the time.
“Angus did a fantastic job. He’s the only coach I could have worked with at that stage because he has a fulltime job and understands everyone’s unique priorities.
“Training is very important and we go just as hard as anyone else, but Angus knows we all have other big commitments in life and he helps facilitate things.
“In a lot of ways my work has been coming first and I feel comfortable with that. It’s important that I not only meet the demands of my job, but that I’m seen to be a hard-working doctor and a good member of the team.
“We do a lot of overtime and after hours and I’m working evenings and weekends as well, missing some training but it’s important that I’m learning all those skills and not leaving my colleagues in the lurch.”
A busy childhood was the perfect preparation for Little’s future that combines being an elite athlete and a junior doctor rotating through a series of different medical specialties.
“I was a sports nut when I was young and tried many things including soccer, water polo, softball and I even played hockey,” the 27-year-old said.
“I also did Little Athletics when I was young and tried everything but when you are under six they don’t let you throw javelins. At first I was a bit of a hurdler like my mum who won some state championships.
“When I was in year seven at Pymble Ladies College, I was about 13, and hurdling training was called off due to rain but the javelin training was still on in the wet. I went over to join them and threw the javelin in the rain.
“It’s a somewhat unnatural movement for first timers but because I’d played softball and water polo I had some throwing experience. The coach said, ‘Oh you’re not too bad, you should come back’.
“It was fun and they were nice people so there was no good reason not to. I progressed reasonably quickly which always helps. And I’m pretty competitive, my family can attest to that. By year 11, I was at the world youth championships in Ukraine.”
Little, who also played the trumpet as a child, strongly believes that keeping her horizons broad helped ensure that she didn’t burn out early.
“Nowadays sports are demanding so much of athletes and more commitment at a younger age,” she said. “When I played hockey in school I was able to go to one training session a week and go to the game.
“But my brother for example, who is in year 12, plays tennis but he not only has tennis training and the game on weekends but they have tennis fitness sessions and tennis strength sessions.
“I benefited from having variety and seeing what I liked and trying different things before finding the thing that I was really good at.”
Little also pays tribute to inspiration from Australia’s strong tradition in women’s javelin – which includes two world championships, eight Commonwealth gold medals, an Olympic silver medal, plus two world silvers, three Commonwealth silvers, an Olympic bronze, a world bronze and four Commonwealth bronze medals.
Australian Women’s Javelin Medallists
Athletes | Results | Events | Years | Venues |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mackenzie Little | Silver | Commonwealth Games | 2022 | Birmingham |
Bronze | World Championships | 2023 | Budapest | |
Kelsey Lee Barber | Gold x 2 | World Championships | 2019, 2022 | Doha, Eugene |
Gold | Commonwealth Games | 2022 | Birmingham |
|
Silver | Commonwealth Games | 2018 | Gold Coast | |
Bronze | Olympics | 2021 | Tokyo |
|
Bronze | Commonwealth Games | 2014 | Glasgow | |
Kathryn Mitchell | Gold | Commonwealth Games | 2018 | Gold Coast |
Kim Mickle | Gold | Commonwealth Games | 2014 | Glasgow |
Silver | World Championships | 2013 | Moscow |
|
Silver | Commonwealth Games | 2010 | Delhi | |
Louise McPaul | Gold x 2 | Commonwealth Games | 1994, 1998 | Victoria, Kuala Lumpur |
Silver | Olympics | 1996 | Atlanta | |
Joanna Stone | Silver | World Championships | 1997 | Athens |
Kate Farrow | Bronze | Commonwealth Games | 1990 | Auckland |
Sue Howland | Gold | Commonwealth Games | 1982 | Brisbane |
Silver | Commonwealth Games | 1990 | Auckland |
|
Bronze | Commonwealth Games | 1986 | Edinburgh | |
Petra Rivers | Gold x 2 | Commonwealth Games | 1970, 1974 | Edinburgh, Christchurch |
Bronze | Commonwealth Games | 1982 | Brisbane |
Two-time world champion Barber is the standout of the group, also winning the 2022 Commonwealth title ahead of Little, who finished with silver in Birmingham but has since climbed up the rankings to world No.2 behind Kitaguchi.
“It was weird in that environment because as I was a junior moving into the senior ranks, it was more difficult to make the Australian javelin team than the US team for the Olympics,” she said.
“Training and competing with world class standard people in a domestic situation makes everyone better, and hopefully our group will have the same impact on the next generation coming through.”
But that doesn’t mean she’s quite ready to hand over the baton, or in this case the javelin, to that next generation.
“It will be difficult to think about stopping if I have a good season this year and I feel like the Japan (2025) World Championships are right around the corner.”
“I love Japan and it is one of my favourite places to compete, so if I qualify I’d be keen to take the opportunity. And then it would be hard not to want to do another Olympics (Los Angeles 2028).
“I’ve gotten so much out of athletics so far and I’m just so grateful. I want to keep going. It’s a difficult thing to think about when the time is right to stop.
“I want to make the most of the opportunities I have because nothing is guaranteed for an athlete. We put a lot of time and investment into our sport but I’m acutely aware there are a lot of things out of our control.
“I’ve seen so many fabulous athletes peak at the wrong time and not make Olympic teams because little things can go wrong and your career can be defined by 30 seconds. One rolled ankle can be the end of all that.
“So I have to think about what is a good investment for the long term and there are other things I want to do in life.”
That includes becoming a surgeon and maybe joining a band.
“I’m currently working in haematology and blood disorders. I haven’t quite landed exactly on what I want to specialise in yet but I’m leaning towards surgery and that’s my next rotation so it will be really interesting to see how it goes,” she said.
“A lot of it has to do with my medical career and going through specialist training programs requires time and energy. But a big part of me also just wants to go to run club or play social soccer, and just spend more time with friends.
“Even playing the trumpet was a fun time in my life and I might think about joining a little community band at some point. I’m just lucky to have different things I can choose to do.
“I think we have to make the most of every little opportunity. I’ve gotten so much social, mental, emotional, and physical health from athletics and training. Everything else is a bonus.”
Michael Osborne has been a journalist for more than four decades including 35 years with the national news agency Australian Associated Press, rising from junior reporter to Editor.
He was AAP Editor for 11 years and served four years as Head of Sport and Racing. He was also posted to London and Beijing as AAP’s Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent.
He has worked at six Olympics and five Commonwealth Games, covered tennis grand slams, golf majors, international cricket, rugby world cups and numerous sporting world championships. He also co-ordinated and managed AAP’s teams and coverage at three Olympic Games in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
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