Javelin star Kim Mickle in race to be fit for Rio Olympics

KIM Mickle may be racing the clock to be fit for Rio, but Australia’s javelin star is not talking like a maybe.

She has been given until the day before she leaves Perth to prove her fitness and will exhaust every available moment to achieve her Olympic destiny.

“It’s going to be very tight but I’ve always been confident that it will work out because I’ve literally done everything humanly possible to get my body right,” the Scarborough athlete said.

“Everyone knows with my shoulder I was always a month down on when the reconstruction is usually at 1`00 per cent.

“The shoulder is usually a 12-month process but I’ve got 11 months to get to an Olympic Games by.

“But from about four weeks ago to now, it’s like a whole new different Kim. The shoulder is starting to play the game and day-in, day-out it is looking better and better and better.

“Obviously every day makes the biggest difference and the fact that they’ve pushed back that time frame for me makes the world of difference.”

While the timing is tight, you get the sense the timing is also right for the 31-year-old.

The competition timetable for Rio has proved a blessing, with women’s javelin set down for midway through the second week of competition.

Mickle is not even scheduled to arrive in Brazil until a week after the July 5 opening ceremony, buying the WA star a few precious additional days at home and then at the Australian team training camp in Florida that could ultimately make all the difference.

“I’m part of the very last wave going into the village; I think I’ll get in on the 12th and my event is on the 16th, so I’ve only got four days to try to get some training in before it is game on,” she said.

While her injury and period of recovery has robbed her of warm-up competitions, Mickle will have her experiences of London in 2012 and past successes on the big stage to draw upon.

She won a Commonwealth Games silver medal in Delhi in 2010 and then made the ultimate step up four years later in Glasgow, claiming gold with a distance of 65.96m.

In between she recorded her best ever distance at the 2013 World Championships, where she launched a personal best throw of 66.60m to claim second place.

But nothing drives a track and field athlete like the lure of an Olympic Games.

“You kind of want that fairytale to work out and if it does work I can tell you it’s going to be a pretty epic story,” Mickle said.

“If it doesn’t work out I can’t be angry or upset because I’ve literally done everything possible.”

The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro starts Friday, August 5 and continues until August 21. The women’s javelin qualifiers are on Tuesday, July 16 at 9.50pm (8.50am Wednesday, WST). The final is scheduled for Thursday, July 18 at 9.10pm (8.10am Friday, WST).