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The versatile Craig Mottram is a native of Australia whose mother hails from Scotland and father from England. But lately he has ruled in New York. A two-time Olympian, Mottram will seek his third consecutive victory on Saturday in the Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park. In 2005, he won the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile, and this past February he finished a close second to Bernard Lagat in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden.
Mottram, 26, has also excelled in races outside New York and at distances from 1500 meters to 10 kilometers. However, his specialty is the 5000 meters. He took bronze in the 5000 at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki—the first medal by a non-African in the event since 1987—and won silver in the 5000 at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. A year ago, he defeated Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder Kenenisa Bekele in winning the gold in the 3000 meters at the IAAF World Cup. Not a bad resume for someone who didn’t devote himself to running until he was 18.
Mottram has extra incentive to win again in Central Park since this year’s winner gets a free trip to the United Arab Emirates. Two days before the race, MensRacing spoke with the man known as “Buster” at a luncheon also attended by American stars Khalid Khannouchi and Dathan Ritzenhein.
Editor's Update: Craig Mottram was defeated by American distance running star Dathan Ritzenhein. He finished second in a time of 28:24.6. Despite his disappointment, he congratulated Ritzenhein; he said that Ritzenhein's course-record win was "very, very impressive."
MensRacing.com: You’re going for your third consecutive win in the Healthy Kidney 10K. Why have you had so much success in this race?
Craig Mottram: It comes at the right time of year for me. I train here in America in May at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Healthy Kidney race breaks up my five weeks of training here and gives me a good indication of how I’m going. I’ve done it this way for the last two years. It’s worked well. Running a specific time on the Central Park course doesn’t necessarily relate to running fast on the track. It just shows that you’re fit and strong and your training is going well. Running this race has put me in a good position to go forward into the European track season and run with confidence.
MR: This race benefits the National Kidney Foundation and heightening people’s awareness about kidney disease. Is it important to you to be part of an event like this?
CM: Yeah, it’s a great event and a fun event. It’s for a good cause and it’s in New York, which is a good place to visit. I get involved in causes that are important to me. I do work with underprivileged children in Africa. Back in Australia, I’m an ambassador for an organization called Plan. I understand that not everybody in life is as fortunate as I am. Running is my passion, and if I can use my position as an athlete to help other people, that’s great.
[Plan’s web site describes the organization as “a global partnership founded in 1937 to bring hope and help to the world’s poorest children.”]
MR: Have you been to Africa?
CM: I went to Mombasa, Kenya, two months ago. The World Cross Country Championships was there. I didn’t run, but I went there because the IAAF had a big meeting there. That was my first trip to Africa, and I loved it. Mombasa is sort of a resort town. But just walking through the town and seeing how many people are living on the streets is fascinating, but then you realize these people have to do this every day and it’s a life that’s not ideal. The Commonwealth Games was a big event for me back in Australia last year, and Plan was a big sponsor. With my status as a non-African competing against Africans in this sport, it just made sense for me to use my profile to try to raise awareness about the problems going on in Africa.
MR: Speaking of competing against African runners, when you won the bronze medal in the 5000 meters at the World Championships in 2005, you became the first non-African to medal in that event since 1987. That’s a remarkable fact.
CM: I actually didn’t know that until people told me about it afterwards. The problem is that people focus on facts like that when, as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter where people come from. The gun goes off and the winner is the first guy over the line, whether I’m from Africa or Asia or Australia or wherever. To me, the beauty of sports is that there are no boundaries. Everybody is out there on a level playing field, especially in track and field. Everybody’s got to deal with the same conditions, the same environment, the same distance. That’s why I love running. It’s a difficult sport, but I love doing it.
MR: So why do you think so many people made a big deal out of your medal at the 2005 World Championships?
CM: I get asked all the time, ‘Why do you think you can compete against them [African runners] and win?’ I think it’s just a race and there’s no reason why anybody should think it’s anything different. I’m not a student of the sport and I don’t know a lot about the history. I don’t pay much attention to that because I’m trying to create my own history. I only got involved in athletics [track and field] seriously in 1998 when I was 18 years old and I didn’t know about the domination of the African runners. That wasn’t ingrained in my mind. I just went out there and ran the race as best I could.
It’s a step in the right direction what [New York Road Runners president and CEO] Mary Wittenberg is doing—taking the pacemakers out of the event and making it more of a race. When you get to the second half of the race, or to a couple of kilometers to go in the marathon, and everybody’s still together that’s when people will start to believe they can win the race. But when the race is taken away from you at the start because people are going off at a million miles an hour, that’s when people don’t believe they can win. If you believe you can win, you run with confidence. And success in sports is all about confidence. The track meet in Zurich also got rid of all pacemakers this year, which is another step in the right direction.
MR: What does your schedule look like for the rest of the year?
CM: I’m heading back to Flagstaff on Saturday after this race. I’m there until June 1. Then I’m coming back to New York to run a track race, the mile on June 2. Then on to the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon to run the two-mile race there on the track. It’s a Nike meet and I’m a Nike athlete. And then I’ll go back home to London and compete on the European circuit from mid-June to the middle of October.
MR: Is it advantageous for you to live in Europe instead of Australia?
CM: Definitely. Australia is home; it’s the greatest place in the world and I love it. Unfortunately, I can’t live there and train and race from there. I can train there in the summer, but I have to come to Europe in the [Australian] winter, which is the European summer because that’s where the track races are. And it’s too far to go back and forth. It’s 25 hours on a plane. London is like my second home now. I have no problem being away from home. Europe is where the work is, so that’s where I’ve got to be.
MR: Do you feel pressure from your fellow Aussies to win when you compete in international events?
CM:
Not a lot. I feel a lot of excitement because it’s what I enjoy doing. This event that I’m running here in New York is in every paper back home in Australia. That’s great. It’s great promotion for the event, for running, for the Healthy Kidney cause. I’m glad I could create that kind of interest. We had the Olympics in Sydney in 2000, but there hasn’t been much happening in the sport in Australia since then. It’s about time we got our act together and started to go forward.
MR: Could you be as big in running in Australia as Cathy Freeman, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist?
CM:
[Laughs] Oh, no. Cathy Freeman is a unique athlete. She’s a legend in Australia. I don’t want to be as big as Cathy Freeman. I don’t want to be thought of as the next Cathy Freeman. I want to be thought of as Craig Mottram. I know her. She’s a fantastic person. She raised the profile of the sport in Australia to new heights, and that was fantastic. But it’s not my job to live in her shadow or try to fill her shoes. It’s my job to be myself and do what I do. I don’t think any runner in Australia will ever be as big as her.
MR: Wouldn’t that change if you win a gold medal next year in Beijing?
CM:
If you win in the Olympics, you’re going to get exposure and recognition everywhere. But I don’t aspire to be as big as Cathy Freeman. I aspire to be the best athlete I can be. Winning in the Olympics is what I want. I’m sure Australia also wants it. But to be quite honest, if Australia wasn’t interested I’d still want it. There are a lot of areas in the sport that need improvement in Australia. Athletes performing well would bring that level of exposure back to the sport, so there would be a snowball effect.
MR: What areas of the sport need to be improved in Australia?
CM:
Well, the athletes need to be performing. We need more athletes performing internationally. We’ve got a few athletes coming up who, hopefully, are going to perform well. We athletes need to concentrate on what we’re doing and let the sport in Australia take care of itself.
MR: You competed in so many sports as a teenager. Why did you choose running?
CM: I’ve always been interested in running. I went to boarding school in Australia, and I did soccer, swimming and diving, and cricket, as well as running. It wasn’t until I finished my academic studies and was able to do what I really wanted to do that running took hold of me, I suppose. Obviously, having the Olympics in Australia was a big attraction for all of us athletes. I was fortunate enough to make it in the 5000 at the Olympics in 2000, and I’ve been doing it ever since.
MR: What are your chances of winning a medal in the 5000 in Beijing?
CM: Very good [laughs]. I’m a confident person. When I’m fit and healthy and ready to race, I honestly believe I can win the races that I line up to do. I don’t line up not to win, and the Olympics will be no different. Eighteen months from now, I’ll be better than I am today. I’ll be more mature. I’m always progressing. It’s going to be a fantastic race in Beijing and I’ve got a chance to win.
MR: Did you believe as a 20-year-old at the 2000 Olympics that you were going to win?
CM: Actually, I lied [laughs]. That was one race when I lined up and didn’t think I could win. That was my first major international competition. To be at the Olympics in Sydney, arguably the best Olympics ever held, in that stadium in front of 100,000 people was fantastic. That was probably the greatest moment in my career to date. As an athlete who was green, I guess, only 20 years old, it was a bit overwhelming. But it’s something I look back on with fond memories. I didn’t make the final. I didn’t shock the world. But I had a great time. I loved it. That was more important than anything.
MR: And that experience helped you in the 2004 Olympics?
CM: Yes. I was eighth in the 5000 final in Athens. I was a little disappointed. I thought I could have come in the top five. I probably ran better before the Olympics than at the Olympics, so I probably peaked a little early. But you learn from that. It’s something that I hope to rectify next year. I don’t want to finish eighth. I want to win it next year.
MR: Where does the nickname ‘Buster’ come from?
CM: I could tell you but I’d have to kill you [laughs]. No, there was an English tennis player named Buster Mottram [whose highest world ranking in the 1980s was No. 15]. And the first time my coach and manager Nick Bideau saw me run in 1998; he obviously made the link because of my surname and called me ‘Buster’ and it stuck.
MR: And obviously you’re okay with that?
CM: Yeah. Everybody calls me that. Even in the papers back home. Nobody knows what my first name is. People just call me ‘Buster.’ That’s good. I suppose it makes it easier for people to relate to me, in Australia in particular, because in Australia everybody has a nickname.
MR: So after Saturday’s race the Aussie newspapers could write, ‘Buster Wins Again in New York.’
CM: Well, the headlines have been, ‘Buster Set to Take Bite out of Big Apple.’ Or ‘Buster’s Back.’ Hopefully, on Sunday morning, the headlines will be, ‘Buster Takes Third Title.’
MR: Is there anyone who doesn’t call you Buster?
CM: The only one who calls me Craig is my mom when she’s mad at me.
Interview conducted May 17, 2007, and posted May 18, 2007.
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