WHEN Chris Bennett left Hampden Park in tears after finishing in twelfth position in the final of the hammer competition at Glasgow 2014, he vowed that he would never allow himself to feel like that again. That disappointment has driven the Glaswegian on over the past three-and-a-half years and has seen him make his Olympic debut in Rio last summer, as well as improve his personal best by almost four metres.
However, there is some unfinished business for Bennett. He may have excelled himself since his Glasgow 2014 disappointment but the 28 year-old has not put his Commonwealth Games ghost to bed. He could be on the verge of doing just that though.
Earlier this month, Bennett was named in the 25-strong Scottish track and field team that will travel to Gold Coast for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which are now less than four months away, and he is confident that there will be no repeat of his 2014 Commonwealth Games experience. “I’m angry at myself for how I did but I’m also embarrassed by how I got on,” he said.
Loading article content
“I never wanted to feel again how I feel at the end of that competition at Glasgow 2014 – I was in floods of tears and I just didn't know what had gone wrong. I wanted to put myself back into the situations and back into that environment to better myself. It has pushed me on though - if Glasgow 2014 has gone well or even okay I'm not sure I would've done as well in the sport as I have done so it's driven me on to bigger and better things.
"This is not a word of a lie – there's not been a day since Glasgow 2014 that I've not thought about Gold Coast. I want to go there and do well and get a medal but it's about not making the same mistakes that I made the last time.”
The past year has not been plain sailing for Bennett, though. He was selected to represent GB at the World Championships which took place in London in the summer but a back injury then caused him to cut his season short, a decision made with the blessing of British Athletics.
However, just last month, the governing body delivered a hammer blow to Bennett. They cut his finding to zero, leaving him in limbo just a few months ahead of one of the most important competitions in his career.
Bennett, however, landed on his feet. The recruitment agency FPSG, who are Scottish Athletics’ sponsorship partner, offered the thrower a job and so now he spends much of his time in a shirt and tie rather than jogging bottoms, something he admits is taking some getting used to. “It was a huge change for me and at the start, I found being in an office quite tough because it's so alien to me,” he said.
“But the people I work with are fantastic and while it can be hard fitting everything in, it is nice having a distraction and having something else to work towards. So I'm really enjoying it.”
Bennett’s fortunes have changed though and just last week, he found out that his appeal to British Athletics regarding his loss of funding had been successful and so he is, once again a funded athlete which significantly reduces the pressure as he finalises his preparations for Gold Coast.
And with the trip to Australia within touching distance, Bennett could not be in a better place both physically and mentally. “In the past, I have been guilty of doing well in the first competition of the season and then not improving on that so I've change things a little bit because I know that Gold Coast is the ultimate goal for this part of the season,” he explained.
“I just can't wait to get going – especially because I didn't have a great season last season, that's given me fuel for the fire. I like to have something that's not gone right because that keeps me going for the next year to make sure that doesn't happen again. I went to the Olympics in 2016 - that was something I could never have imagined doing but I think after that I think I was a little distracted whereas now I know Gold Coast is coming and so I'm completely focused for it.
"I'm not saying I definitely will win a medal but I am saying that's what I want to do. I want to be on that podium more than anything else.”