TAMSYN LEWIS SHE'S LAUGHING
By Robert Drane Inside Sport, September 2001  

CLOSE QUOTES, COMMA, SHE LAUGHS


Take that for granted while reading this. Its an instructional aid. Rarely will it be "she says." Occasionally I'll actually write "she laughs," just to remind you. Otherwise keep in mind that Tamsyn talk is mostly carried along on a welling tide of laughter, which threatens to burst its banks and drown the end of sentences. When she completes one, its usually with an exclamation mark. When laughter does take over, its a bright, white deluge. 

You'd think she's never serious. She's very serious. You'd think she's too girly for the hurly burly. But careful; one of these fluffy remarks she gaily tosses your way like cute little Fatsos might contain an anvil. Don't be shocked; she's being utterly true to herself. Fluffy on the outside, with a cast-iron centre. You know the gig. 

The 800 metres is a tough challenge for tough ladies - in her eyes, a good enough reason to enjoy it. That's why she prefers it to her erstwhile pet event, the 400. She likes it because its tough and smart, like her. And rough. These pages are an oxymoron. Look at the pictures, then read these contradictions: "Its rough. I like being physical. Love it. And there's a lot more tactics involved, which is why I'm involved in sport. I'm competitive. Really competitive. Overseas, you just get elbowed all the time. Not a light tap; they really elbow you! I like it. I think its fun!" I'm not sure ever her boyfriend, Leigh Colbert, who plays for the Roos, sees the fun in being flogged by a flying funny bone. "Its makes it interesting. Athletics wasn't meant to be a contact sport, but over there, it's as close as it gets." 

She hardens herself with an increased weights program and a few rounds on the punching bags. "This might sound bad, but I love boxing! I think it's a great sport!" She mightn't be above borrowing a short sharp backfist from the martial arts, as well. 

Right now Tamsyn, our best 800m runner and potentially one of the best athletes we've produced in years, considers herself, without hesitation, a 400m runner who's changed up. "Im always going to run fours, because I love being in the relay." 

Very few 800m runners in the world do a faster 400. Speed is her asset - learning, her challenge. "I think my problem is basically maturity. It can't be a speed thing. Its a tough event to learn. In Europe they race each other all the time". 

So, she goes to Europe to race. At home, we see a lot more of her than we do your garden-variety athlete. We've come to like her - the sort of person we all wish only the best. She's no dumb-as-a-box-of-hammers runner who saves grace for the race. Graceful she is on the track - a fluent technician who concentrates on technique, with no inelegant wobble to her step. Gracious she is off it - she proves you can be candid and tactful at the same time - rare in this country, but endearing when you find it. 

She bobs up on The Panel, The Fat, and A Question of Sport, and intends to do a lot more if it "as long as it doesn't interfere with my track." 
She's weighed into debate about Freeman's weight, and stepped into the fray over the women's relay. She's not really controversial, "just not good at lying, that's all. I wish I could keep my mouth shut occasionally, but I just can't lie!" She has to be careful, for she's the dirt-digger's paydirt. In answer to direct questions, she'll tell the truth. "Gets me in trouble sometimes, but I just say what I feel." She has good reason to defend Cathy. She admires her. She's a good friend (they roomed together in Sydney). "Do you know what good shape she was in? If she'd put on a kilo, you would've noticed. So I think its a bit unfair. You can't please people. If you're too skinny, you get criticised, or too big. She's done enough for the country. Get off her back! She's an amazing person." 

Body image is a familiar territory. It touches a deep nerve. It's as serious as she'll get. "I had three very tough years. I went through what a lot of teenage girls go through. I didn't look after my body very well. I had a lot of people telling me I was fat. It was probably innocent, but when you're young and impressionable, you take it to heart. Because I was so competitive and single-minded, I thought, 'I've got to lose weight,' and I got so into the single-minded channel of it. I just did it too well. I lost a lot of weight. I had eating disorders. I never told anyone that, but it came out on the front pages. They said I was bulimic. They said the whole lot. Which is hard to deal with when you're still pretty young. I'm still 22. I feel like I'm 30!" She laughs. "It made me realise where athletics is in my life. It's just sport. There are a lot of other things in life. Everyone else is doing things in there life too that are just as important as what I'm doing."  

She's lost nothing on the journey. On the contrary she's posted big wins. "A father once called me and said, 'Look my daughter's in hospital and she's really crook. She used to be a great athlete, but . . . She's dying'. I thought, 'Oh my gosh! I was never that bad!' I wrote her a letter and it was totally candid, because it wasn't to a newspaper or anything, just to a girl who was sick. A month later, she was out of hospital and wrote to thank me. It's the best thing I've ever received. I love working with kids. My course helps, too. I'm doing behavioural science."  

Having run Grand Prix races in Europe to prepare for this month's World Championships in Canada, Tamsyn will soon head home for the Goodwill Games. In Europe, last year, her trajectory took a sharp climb. "It was an amazing year for me. I went over to Europe and didn't feel I belonged. Those girls look more impressive and I didn't feel like I deserved to be on the start line with them. After the Paris Grand Prix, Cathy and my brother said, 'Just go out there and believe in yourself.' Coming off the final bend, I thought I was going to win, but the World Champ from the year before gave me this huge elbow and pushed me two lanes wide. In the front straight. Ended up losing by 0.1 of a second or something. But to get that close changed my psyche totally. It made me realise, hey, they're just human. They can get beaten! That race changed my whole career. Now I feel like I belong in that company and I've got more to offer.' 

In '99 she was top 60 in the World. Last year, she was top ten. This year, she wants top five. Her best time over 800 trips easily off her tongue: "1:59:21." Yet, one day, when she runs past the ghost off Charlene Rendina and on to the Australian record set before she was even born, Tamsyn hopes that current figure will be forgotten, like a cancelled pin number. 

Tamsyn wants that record - set by a woman who's now over 50 - and wants to do it overseas, this year. "There's a bit less pressure overseas. It'll be a huuuge thing off my back! It's just that everyone mentions it after a race." Why doesn't she want to do it in Australia? "It's hard to do it without the competition." Charlene Rendina is mentioned so often, she might as well be her biggest rival. "She competed with my parents! Its ridiculous!" She laughs. Tamsyn's mum and dad both represented Australia, at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games respectively. Dad was a sprinter and mum was a high-jumper. Not that she feels the weight of expectation. Before a race, Tamsyn does crosswords, while great competitors like Maria Mutola pace around, getting ready in the most bizarre ways. "I used to look and think, 'Hmmm, I wonder if I should be doing that?' Now I just relax. That's what suits me best." Sometimes of course she just laughs. 

She was utterly mystified when I suggested that the image-makers might want to put her in the same arena as Tatiana and Liz as a sex symbol of Australian sport. "Well I've never had that happen before. I enjoyed this shoot though. A lot different to running 800 and hurting and looking terrible. It's nice to be put in a nice light in the photographs. You're never going to look attractive at the end of an 800, when they shove a microphone in your face and tell you to talk. But if you're going to put me into the attractive group, I'm not going to complain!" Instead, she laughs.
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