Muscle Fitness Muscle & Fitness UK - April 2018 | Page 111

TOUG H N U T TO C R AC K
future major events these girls, and
the boys, have earned the right to have
much higher profiles so that the public
know exactly who they are and can
give them the support that they
deserve”.
There are two main long-term
goals that Louise shared with me
during our conversation. One was a
vow to return to sports broadcasting
one day and the other was to be
involved in sport at a governmental
level - particularly to represent
minority sports. She made clear her
ambition to be a spokesperson for
those who are under-represented at
that level and pointed out the lack of
diversity, particularly ethnic diversity,
throughout the management level
of most sports.
Louise believes that this lack of
diversity can begin to change by
someone wanting to change it and
wanting to be involved at that level
and I cannot see anybody being able
to stop her after she has put her mind
to it - after all, we have seen what
she achieved in Delhi.
When it comes to specialising in
multiple disciplines, once a
Heptathlete, always a Heptahlete.
Louise talks about writing books,
continuing her education, developing
and releasing multiple fitness
products as well as progressing her
blossoming TV career as if it is as
simple as running the 110m Hurdles
one minute, a quick bit of High Jump
and then onto the Shot Put. It is just
all in a days work for her.
With her time now split between
London and Los Angeles it is fair
to say that if Louise Hazel decides
she is going to do something, she
will do it - she will do it well and
then she will do it better than
everyone else.
So when she tells you that she
has goals and ambitions it is not a
matter of if she achieves them, but
when... and she will usually be able
to tell you the exact date too.
O
sport, and I think that by all means we
need to use grass-roots sports as a way
to develop and identify future
champions, but we cannot afford to let
these future champions fall short at
the level just before they become
an elite athlete”.
Hazel feels that this is where these
talented athletes need to be supported
the most but is also the most over-
looked phase of their development.
Not only does she think that she would
not have won a gold medal for her
country, but she also doubts whether
she would ever have been a
professional athlete at all had she not
had the motivation and persistence to
seek private funding after she lost her
funding during this crucial phase in
her development. “This is sadly
becoming a situation for a lot of
athletes, they are finding themselves in
a position where they are forced to
make huge huge sacrifices to
participate in a sport that doesnt
necessarily pay very much. Just
because you see these athletes
competing for their country on TV
doesn’t mean they are millionaires -
far from it. Take Greg Rutherford for
example, here is a young man who
won a gold medal at London 2012,
and the World Championships after
that, then he was offered a contract
that was worth LESS than his junior
contract because he was a few years
older. Those are the types of injustices
that I am really passionate about. We
are a country that prides ourselves
on being able to support Team GB,
I understand that the National Lottery
cannot do it all and I commend them
on the funding they do provide, but
our National Governing Bodies
(NGB’s) need to seek more
sponsorship to make up
for the shortfall in lottery funding”.
One final request from Louise Hazel
to the NGB’s of Athletics is to promote
the abundance of talented young
athletes, particularly female sprinters,
that Team GB currently has in its
ranks. “These girls are not here to play,
they mean business. They’re already
winning medals and going in to all
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