Stone takes well-earned break before intense lead up to Olympics

Caption: PNG track star Nelson Stone

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, August 16, 2015 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

PACIFIC Games 400m race champion Nelson Stone said that he now will take a break from the track after a successful campaign on the track last month which saw him bag gold in the 400m, 4x100m, and the 4x400m events.

The PNG track star proved critics wrong despite a slow start in the lead up to the games with a powerful performance that saw him bag 3 gold medals and a silver medal.

“I’ll take a break by orders from my coach and no running, no nothing from the next couple of weeks and hopefully the next couple of months to,” Stone said.

“We got the Olympics happening next year so there are a couple of big meets coming up next year or this year so those are the ones I will be looking forward to.”

“But basically all my energies now will be channeled to the Olympics.”

When asked about the highlights about the games that stood out for the sprinter, he mentioned the famous 4x400m relay as an unbelievable race, but hoisted his 400m final as the pinnacle of the games for him.

“The relay was one of my highlights of the games especially that of the 4x400 relay as it was unbelievable, but my 400 meter final is by far the most special to me.”

Stone also pointed out the experience of the local crowd atmosphere as being close or even more spectacular than his previous audiences in some of the biggest stages of the sport.

“I have been to big games like the Olympics and to three World Championships, two Commonwealth Games, but the crowd and atmosphere was unbelievable and out of this world.”

“I have never experienced such an atmosphere before and that has really one thing that I have realized that because of that kind of support all our athletes really stood up and really lifted us.”

When asked what his success on the track came down to- the athlete summed it down to self-belief and confidence.

“This year I really had bad performances- I tore my quadriceps and weeks leading up to the games I was really down, my performance was really low, but one thing I learnt is to believe in myself and when I started to do that I got the results just two weeks before the games and got my ranking back and I came into the games full of confidence.”

"My advice to them is whatever they want in life, whether it is sports or not sports if they have a dream they must keep it, because without dreams you are aimless.”