Matthew CENTROWITZ, coraggio a chili (per sistemare un ginocchio)

1'500m US Team

"Matt has Tons of Guts" è un complimento pesante quando arriva da un allenatore importante che ha preso l'atleta in carico per un rapido recupero, altrimenti improbabile. Il protagonista è Matthew CENTROWITZ (vd. scheda @IAAF), già bronzo l'anno scorso ai Mondiali di Daegu sui 1'500m, che a fine marzo sbatte il ginocchio su un tavolo. La reazione infiammatoria sembra normale, ma l'evoluzione positiva non è rapida come si vorrebbe, dovendo proseguire la preparazione verso i Trials di fine giugno. Si esegue con successo un'operazione il 10 aprile ma rimane poco tempo. Qui interviene Alberto SALAZAR che prende in cura Matt per un mese facendogli fare tutto quello che gli è possibile al di fuori della corsa. Qui sotto riporto il testo completo @OregonLive (inglese potabile). Se nella finale olimpica sbuca una macchia bianca sui 1'500m è probabile che sia Matt, come a Daegu ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKWxxVhL5kg

Chissà che il video sia anche beneagurante per Antonietta DI MARTINO: in mezzo ai 1'500m c'è pure il suo salto sul podio con 2,00m ... anche lei sta lottando per sistemarsi un ginocchio in tempo per Londra. After Matthew Centrowitz finished second in Sunday's 1,500-meter final in the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field, he was asked about the knee injury he suffered this spring.

Centrowitz brushed it off as a "minor setback."

He wasn't telling the whole story.

Not close.

After Centrowitz banged his left knee on a table in late March, the knee became so inflamed that he couldn't train.

Initially, Centrowitz and his coach, University of Oregon distance coach Andy Powell, thought the problem would subside with rest.

It didn't.

Finally, on April 10, doctors operated. Suddenly Centrowitz was faced with having to rehabilitate the knee while at the same time training to make the Olympic Team.

Centrowitz, a professional runner with the Nike Oregon Project but still an undergraduate at the University of Oregon, was training in Eugene while taking classes through the winter term.

After his surgery, Powell and Oregon Project coach Alberto Salazar decided the best move would be for Centrowitz to join the Oregon Project's altitude camp in Park City, Utah.

"I became his Marine drill instructor," Salazar said.

With Centrowitz unable to do much running -- even at the end of May he was only running between 25 to 40 miles per week outside -- Salazar put him through a punishing cross-training regimen.

Salazar had Centrowitz on a stationary bike, in the swimming pool, on elliptical machines. He pushed him through an exhausting series of calisthenics.

"I really worked his butt off," Salazar said.

After grueling training sessions in the gym, Salazar would make Centrowitz churn three miles uphill to the condominium in which they were staying. The elevation was 7,000 feet at the base of the hill, and 8,000 feet at the condo.

Still, it wasn't clear that Centrowitz would be ready for the Olympic Trials.

"He didn't do any speed work until about May 15th," Salazar said. "I told him, 'You've got to start running fast. If you don't do it now, you're going to have no chance.'"

Salazar said that doctors assured him that Centrowitz wouldn't structurally damage his knee by running hard. There would, however, be pain.

"He just had to push through it," Salazar said.

During Salazar's "boot camp" Centrowitz was so worn out, he was sleeping about 14 hours a day.

At one point, Salazar said, Centrowitz told him he was exhausted.

Salazar remembers telling him: "Tired? You're tired? Matthew, there is no tired in distance running.

"After that, it became mind over matter, and he progressed incredibly."

Salazar wanted it understood that Powell is Centrowitz's coach. Once Centrowitz was able to run, Powell designed the workouts.

Still, Salazar took quiet satisfaction in watching Centrowitz battle his way onto the U.S. Olympic Team Sunday at Hayward Field.

Said Salazar: "He has tons of guts."