Former Olympic Games’ track coach Stan Miller is a retiree with an insight into what it takes to compete at the Olympics and he will be cheering on the Australian athletes in their quest for gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games, which has its opening ceremony tonight (9pm).
77-year-old Stan will be watching the Olympic Opening Ceremony at Stockland’s The Grange Retirement Village at the coastal suburb of Grange, 11km west of Adelaide’s CBD.
“I’ll be glued to the TV – watching the Games at all hours of the day. I don’t want to miss out on any of the action,” he said.
“Despite there not being a crowd at these Games, there’ll be plenty of support back home and I’m looking forward to watching the games with fellow residents.
“It’s a good opportunity to get together over a shared passion of sport.”
Stan was the personal coach for dedicated 400m runner Brad Jamieson, who competed in the 4×400 relay at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
He rubbed shoulders with some of the world’s leading athletes including champion Australian runner and Olympic Gold Medalist Cathy Freeman.
“I look back fondly on my Olympic experience. Meeting leading individual athletes prior to competing and at the pre-team dinner was one of the many highlights,” he recalls.
“You can’t help but have a great time at the Olympics. There’s a buzz like no other.”
Stan is an accomplished athlete himself and a middle-distance runner. He competed in the Masters Games in the 75-80 age category for the 1500m event up until last year.
Stan rates Australian high-jumpers Brandon Starc and Eleanor Patterson, and long-distance runner Stewart McSweyn as medal hopefuls for Australia.
“We have some real prospects in Track and Field and the Olympics is a great opportunity to see athletes perform at their peak in their chosen sports.”
