News

Cecilia McIntosh’s story is one of total persistence in the service of a dream that had frequently seemed destined to elude her. She had tried weightlifting, finishing second in the national titles during the 1990s but not qualifying for an Olympic Games. At javelin she got much closer, winning silver at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester and qualifying for Athens in 2004 before persistent elbow problems ended her athletics career. She shifted then to bobsled but also kept her interest in elite-level Australian rules football (she made the All-Australian women’s team last year.)

Now, the 30-year-old from Nunawading will realise a long-held dream in a sport that has had its hold on her for not long at all. She has kept going for more than two decades chasing it.Yesterday, all that hard work paid off. She was an Olympian. ”I’ve waited so long,” she said. ”I feel like I’m going to explode.”