Rose Davies is set to make her Olympic debut this evening (Friday 30 July).
The Merewether long-distance runner might not have been able to hear the cheers of support from the students at her former Adamstown-based learning hub, but that didn’t stop the St Pius X High School teens from giving all they had this afternoon.
Surrounded by a sea of green and gold clad youths, the Newcastle Weekly sat down with Rose’s mum Helen Davies to ask her how her nerves were fairing.
She admits that she’s been working exceptionally hard in recent weeks to “keep a lid on emotions”.
“We’ll be a mixture of emotions tonight,” Helen said.
“We don’t want to miss realising this incredible opportunity, [Rose] has wanted to be in the green and gold for so long, but tonight’s going to be pretty special.
“We’ll be nervous, we’ll be excited, and just mostly proud.”
Rose Davies is set to compete in Heat One of the 5,000m race of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games scheduled to start at 8pm.
If the 21-year-old is successful, she will race in the final on Monday night.
The significance of which is not lost on her family.
“This is her first overseas trip, other than Bali,” Helen said.
“This is her first experience with International competition so it’s a big experience for her.”
Like most parents, Helen and husband Paul have made sacrifices over the years to get Rose to this level of competition.
“We’ve had to tag-team a lot,” Helen said.
“Paul’s done a lot of the competitions, while I’ve stayed at home with Rose’s brothers William and Tom to get them to their sports – they’re equally as passionate about their sports.”
Yet the motivation had to come from within, Helen says.
“To do this work you have to be self-motivated and since she was ten years old that hasn’t been an issue.
“She [Rose] has managed that herself and I’m sure there have been times mentally where it’s been a bit tough, but if you’re striving to the goal you’ve got to do the work, and talent won’t get you there without the work ethic behind you.”
Helen says there were two years in her senior years at St Francis Xavier High School (feeder school of St Pius X High School) in which Rose lost a bit of motivation.
“Motivation was a little bit lower, she was injured, she was having a wonderful time at school and just wanted to experience normal life as a young person does,” Helen said.
“She took a little bit of time out at that point to reassess what her commitment was going to be, and she connected with [current coach] Scott Wescott, and that really was the inroad back to her competitive career.”
Helen adds as parents they’ve known for a while that Rose had a special talent.
“She’s always loved to run,” she said.
“As an 11-year-old she made her first NSW team at National Cross Country and all she wanted was that blue tracksuit.
“She came second in that race and we had an inkling then that she had talent.
“She’s ‘an athlete among a lot of other talented athletes’ is how I like to put it.
“You have to change your mindset as you become a senior athlete and it’s not about winning races it’s about setting goals and targets for yourself as an athlete, and she’s done that.”
And while COVID-19 hampered the efforts of many athletes worldwide, for Rose it may have been a blessing in disguise.
“In terms of Tokyo I think she first started to believe that that was possible after winning the national 10,000km this year,” Helen says.
“She was very much an underdog in that race.
“I think it was only really in January that she started to think Tokyo was a possibility.
“Without COVID-19 [forcing the cancellation of the Olympics in 2020] she wouldn’t have had the time to build the standard needed for the Olympics.”
Aside from drive, determination and mental fortitude, Helen says resilience is one of Rose’s best traits.
“To be an elite athlete [you have to] put the work in, deal with the injuries, have the resilience to bounce back,” she said.
“Among the highs there are a lot of lows, or times that you’re not hitting the marks that you want to hit.
“It’s how successfully you deal with those times and celebrate and appreciate when it does go right that matters most.”
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