Perth: Peter Bol is through the lost years and back in the form of his life after breaking the national 800-metre record in a statement performance that declared he was a contender on the world stage once again.
Like Rohan Browning on Saturday night, Bol stepped out of Gout Gout’s shadow as if to say, “Remember me?” He pointed to the sky and waved his arms in celebration before he even crossed the line in the record time of 1 minute 43.79.
“To be honest, I should have been in this level years ago. Obviously [I] had some interruptions, but to be back here to know exactly this is where I belong – it’s great. You know, [I] always knew I could do it. It’s just a matter of time,” Bol said after bettering his friend Joe Deng’s record of 1:43.99.
“And that frustration year-after-year of not doing it – Joseph Deng has been able to do it here and there, but we need someone to do it consistently, and I’m ready to take that.
“I’ve left everything behind,” he said, referring to the interrupted years of suspension and the mental stress that came with being accused of doping, and then having his suspension lifted.
Peter Bol set a stunning new national mark in the men’s 800 metres.Credit: Getty Images
“We’re focusing on looking just forward. And as I said before, I’d never take anything back, and it’s a growth period that I learned from, but I’d never want it back at the same time. So just happy to be here.”
After the Tokyo Olympics, where he finished fourth – missing a medal by 0.53 seconds – Bol endured a torrid period where he was provisionally suspended for failing a doping test for EPO, and then had that ban lifted when the secondary testing of his blood sample was inconclusive.
Bol admitted this was such an emphatic performance, it was a declaration in a year that the world championships return to Tokyo, the site of his greatest sporting achievement, that he was fit and ready to contend on the world stage again.
“Absolutely it was [a statement performance],” he said.
“This happened last time we had the Olympics in Tokyo – and I’m fitter than ever, faster than ever, [and] in good shape. I’ve said this so many times, physically, but more mentally we’re happy now. We’re running well. We’re running for Australia, running for family, running for everything. At the moment, there is so, so much more purpose.
“You know what’s crazy is, I think the sprinters would be taking all the limelight and I thought, ‘Man, these guys can run nine and 10 flat in the heat and semis. I’m gonna come out here and do something’. Otherwise, you’ll be forgotten.”
Impressively, Bol had slowed off in the final 10 metres to celebrate before crossing the line, suggesting he could have run even quicker. With his wife and six-month-old daughter in the stands, Bol pointed to the sky and waved his arms to the crowd to cheer, celebrating before he crossed the line then ran straight to his family to embrace over the fence.
“I was like, ‘Come on, we’re at a national championship. We’ve gotta get louder’, and I had to switch it off,” he said of his celebrations before crossing the line.
“Justin [coach Justin Rinaldi] told me just before I went into the call room, ‘Run through the line’. I was like, ‘Not today, not today. Sorry, mate’.
“My daughter just turned six months [old]. I’m back home with my family, [with] my girl out here watching. So, just bringing back to my old values, which is family, faith and health. I’m healthy. My family is good, and I’m performing.
“Honestly, I didn’t even think about the national record. I thought about getting the fourth national title, and, man, I just knew I had to get out hard and the boys would chase.
“I didn’t want to get stuck at the back and wanted to race just like I was at the Olympic Games. So I did that.
“I started here, so the national record should stay here if I’m running, also I want it somewhere else, but [I’m] glad to have it here, I guess.”
Earlier, Abbey Caldwell held off Claudia Hollingsworth, who got blocked into a difficult position in the field, to win the women’s 800m in 2.00.51.
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