Medal magnet came close to quitting

By Gavin Staindl
TARA Cheyne is quickly launching into her discus career, but two years ago she was so embarrassed she nearly threw the sport away … metaphorically, of course.
Last month Cheyne, 14, returned from Canada, where she claimed seven medals from eight events, and just last week the Year 8 Lyndhurst Secondary College student progressed to the regional school championships of discus, shot put and javelin.
But it was only two years earlier, at her maiden national championships in Sydney, that the Cranbourne resident toyed with idea of giving it all away.
Up against the best throwers in the country, Tara threw three foul throws that disqualified her from the competition.
The embarrassment and disappointment of being the first girl at the competition to throw three fouls was too much to bear for an 11-year-old, who later cried for “three straight hours”.
“I was saying to myself ‘I’m going to quit this, I’m going to quit this’,” Cheyne said.
But she didn’t quit, and one year later finished as the sixth best discus thrower for her age group.
After beating her nearest opponent by a whopping 13 metres with a distance of 31 metres at the zone event at Casey Fields last week, Cheyne has her eyes firmly set on improving at national events. And if her results in Canada are anything to go by, then she is in with a shot.
Over the two meets, Cheyne finished with two golds in discus, a gold in hammer throw, a gold and bronze and javelin and a silver and bronze in shot put. Despite recording a personal best distance of 33.37 metres in discus, it was her javelin throw that she will remember for many years.
Prior to the event, Cheyne admitted she hadn’t given much time to practising javelin and it showed as she slipped and fell after one of her javelin attempts – much to the amusement of her competitors.
But as she lay sprawled on the running track, trying to hold in her embarrassment, a marshal walked over and said she had won the competition with that throw. “I don’t know how I did it … I am not a javelin thrower,” Cheyne said.
Along with a budding singing career that has already resulted in two recorded CDs, Cheyne is hoping to become a weightlifter as well.