
MADELEINE Pape thought she had blown it.
After finishing second to Tamsyn Lewis in the 800m Olympic selection trial in Brisbane on Saturday night, Pape figured her hopes of going to Beijing had plummeted.
Luckily, the selectors did not share her view and yesterday rewarded the 24-year-old with her first Australian team tracksuit and Olympic berth.
"I have been really miserable since Saturday night and had a few sleepless nights," Pape said yesterday.
"I went into that race to give myself the best possible chance of being selected, and when I came away from that race I didn't feel like I had gone out there and really done that."
With Lewis settling back in the field, Pape found herself in the unusual role of pacemaker.
Instead of pushing the pace, the Victorian was too conservative and Lewis rounded her up easily to win in the slow time of 2min 2.12sec.
READ FULL ARTICLE