Australian big man Craig Mottram eyes fifth Olympic Games
Craig Mottram, Australia's most prominent distance runner over the past 10 years, will run the London Marathon with Olympic aspirations.
Though we may not see Craig Mottram on the track in Rio, we may see the Australian giant on the roads.
Mottram, one of Australia’s best distance runners, announced that he will be attempting to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio by running the London Marathon on April 24.
He’s one of the few tall men in long distance running standing 6-2 with many of his competitors nearly a foot shorter than him.
Mottram will be looking to make history as no Australian track and field athlete has ever qualified for five Olympic Games. Only 23 men have done it globally, reports the Herald Sun.
RELATED: It’s on: Rob Watson running London in hopes of Olympic standard.
“I actually never retired,” Mottram told the Herald Sun. Mottram added that he had no desire to run on the track but was willing to continue road racing.
RELATED: London Marathon Expo organizer John Beeden rows across Pacific Ocean.
The 35-year-old is best known for interrupting the dominance of Africans over long distances in the mid 2000s; in 2005 he became the first non-African since 1987 to win a 5,000m medal at the world championships.
He followed up that bronze medal performance with a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games over the same distance in 2006.
“I never stopped enjoying going for a run, I stopped enjoying the environment that we had created from a training perspective.” added Mottram in reference to his lack of recent appearances on the track.
The Australian marathon standard is 2:19 but with five men already having achieved the mark, Mottram will have to run in the 2:13-2:15 range.
RELATED: April’s London Marathon may be one of the most stacked races ever.
Canadians Rob Watson and Brandon Lord recently announced that they too will be competing at the London Marathon in April.
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
