Spin Doctor
New shot put and discus recordsset at Arafura by double gold medal winner

By Andrew Stackpool

FLGOFF Luke Poli took gold in both the discus and the shot put events at the recent Arafura Games in Darwin.

Photo by LAC Casey Smith

FLYING Officer Luke Poli from RAAF Base Edinburgh set himself a seven-month regime to prepare for gold. And succeeded.

FLGOFF Poli won gold medals in shot put and discus at the recent Arafura Games. He set new Arafura and ADF records with his discus throw of 51.88m, and a new ADF record shot put throw of 14.71m.

FLGOFF Poli, who joined the Air Force in 2001, said he started his training schedule last October.

“My training had several phases,” he said. “They included general conditioning and pre-season preparation.

“During the pre-season phase, I concentrated on top-end strength in the gym. My fitness work targeted speed and endurance. I incorporated this with event-specific training, which focused on fine-tuning the technical aspects of my throw.

“This was followed by the competition phase, which ran from early January through to mid-May, longer than the usual two or three months.

It involved maintaining my strength and fitness levels, and further fine-tuning my techniques in the lead-up to the major events, including the Arafura Games, which was at the end of the season.

“Each phase was specific to the development of different aspects of the two sports.”

FLGOFF Poli started competing when he was 13 and while this was his first event with the Defence Athletics Club, he has built up a solid competitive base. He previously competed for two seasons with the Salisbury Athletics Club, winning the past two state titles and becoming the Oceania under-20 champion in 1996.

He said he enjoyed the Arafura Games.

“I was quite pleased with my results. The atmosphere was great and the venue was conducive to good performances.

“The Defence Athletic Club team members were excellent supporters to each other and we had a great time up in Darwin. The Arafura Games is definitely a competition that I will return to in the future.”

With the Games behind him, FLGOFF Poli has returned to training.

“I would like to throw at least 55m in the discus before I retire from the sport as a competitive athlete,” he said. “Apart from that, I’ll just wait and see what the future holds.”

 

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