In the weeks that followed the 2012 London Olympics, Rob Heffernan wondered if his persecution was going to last forever. A fourth-place finish in the men’s 50km race was an impressive result, especially in the context of the whispering campaign surrounding Sergey Kirdyapkin, who took gold in that race but who has since been suspended for doping.
Yet for Heffernan, the fact remained that London was the eighth time he had recorded top-ten finish in a major championship without winning a medal. Along his long road to glory, there have been plenty of obstacles blocking his path.
“After the race, I was very disappointed. But then it sank in that I performed on a big day in front of a huge crowd. Plenty of medal contenders went out the back door,’’ he told The Star.
“Then you hear that a couple of Russians have got done for drugs, so you start thinking ‘it’s not fair, I should have an Olympic medal’. You go through all of those scenarios.
“It’s disappointing that I didn’t get a medal. But you can’t be a small child either, that’s just the way it is.”
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Rather that was the way it was. Within a year, the nearly man had become the delivery man, winning the gold medal at the World Championships in Moscow, a deserved return for a committed sportsman, who has regulalry had to sacrifice family life in pursuit of his career.
If 2013 felt good, then an incident last year proved less satisfying, even if it also brought the reward of a retrospective bronze for the 20km walk at the 2010 European championships, after Stanislav Emelyanov was found guilty of committing an anti-doping violation. Somewhat bizarrely, Kirdyapkin, the 2012 Olympic champion, was also found guilty of doping between 2009 and 2012 by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) but while the majority of his results —including five world titles - were wiped out, his 2012 Olympic title was allowed stand, depriving Heffernan, the world champion, of an Olympic medal.
All that frustration and sense of wrongdoing, has the chance to be corrected to some extent in the early hours of Saturday morning when the Corkman defends his title on the streets of Beijing and while his best form has eluded him this year, he remains confident.
“I feel good. My training has gone well enough in the last month that if I’m in a good place mentally and physically then I can give a good performance,” the 37-year-old said.
“Hopefully, I’ll have a good result again. I want to win a medal, I’ve always wanted to win a medal, if I can control what I can do and deliver a performance.”
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The only performance he has delivered this year has been in the Slovakia, in March, when he recorded a time of 3:48.44, which needs to improve this time around if he is to retain his title. What also needs to improve, he believes, is the public perception of his sport.
“People reporting on the sport should be more educated on what is involved and what it takes to compete,” Heffernan once said. “If you look at the Irish athletics scene, 80 per cent of the athletes are on minimal funding and working as well. My wife, Marian [a 400 metres runner], went to the Olympics, and she’s still a housewife and mother. She was competing against people from Russia and America that are superstars. She’s been judging on running against them, and you’re not comparing like with like.”
Tomorrow Marian’s husband has the chance to reach superstar status. No Irish athlete has ever defended their world title successfully. He has the chance to walk into history.