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Matt: Marist NS 100m maestro
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| By Bernadette Bain
18 November, 2012 |
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| ‘TRAINING SECRETS’: Matt chats to the St Brigid’s students about his road to success. Photo: Kitty Beale |
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Most of us will know him as Australia’s fastest sprinter (1998-2002), but you'd have to have been a Marist College North Shore student during the 1990s to know that Matt Shirvington is a former student of the school.
Matt was just 19 when he graduated from Marist College and became heralded as the first Australian sprinter to break 10.1 seconds for the 100 metres.
He sped his way into the record books as the fastest Australian to clock in 10.03sec at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, and became the first white man to break the 10.1sec barrier more than once.
France’s Christophe Lemaitre, 20, is the fastest now with more sub 10.1sec times than any other white sprinter.
For Matt, competing at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 was his greatest glory.
He did not make the team for the Athens Games in 2004 team and was only a relay runner at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, but through it all he never gave up and, most importantly, he got back up even if he faltered.
And that’s what he told Year 6 students when he dropped in to St Brigid’s Primary, Marrickville.
“Success is falling nine times and getting up ten,” he told them, as he shared his favourite Jon Bon Jovi motivational quote.
It is important, he said, to believe in yourself, express who you are and apply yourself.
“Consistency is the key to success,” he said. “I knew that I had a little bit of talent because I was the fastest in my school, but talent only got me to a certain level. It was the hard work that got me to be the best.
“When I was national champion, and held the record*, I worked harder than any other Australian athlete at that time.”
* The national record of 9.93sec is held by Patrick Johnson (2003).
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