Pacific Daily News from Agana Heights, Guam • Page A48

SPORTS guampdn.com Thursday, August 2, 2012 48 on Guam Mandell remains focused By Jojo Santo Tomas Pacific Daily News LONDON Even at a slight 130 pounds, 5-foot-9-inch Derek competition history looks larger than life. The two-time Olympian is getting ready to hopefully run the fastest 800 meters of his life come 10:50 a.m. Aug. 6 at the Games of the XXX Olympiad. With 10 years of competition behind him, the last four years have been extremely focused on speed, speed, speed the most valuable component in his event.

Learn how one of best runners broke himself down to become a student of his event. uestion: Describe the training undertaken in the last four years. A nswer: After Beijing and graduating from college in 2008, I was left without any sound training program, so I had to become a student of the sport. studied and researched effective training methods and applied them to myself. Every year I learned more about how my body reacts to certain methods and have made proper adjustments accordingly.

Every year since then I have gradually increased my training load in either intensity or quantity, which became difficult in balancing it with a social life and full-time work. But I realized that running has given me more opportunities than I ever would have imagined. In May of this year, I made the difficult decision to resign from my job and train full-time in Australia so I could immerse myself in an ideal environment. In Australia, I trained under the (guidance) of Mark Ladbrook, a former Australia 400-meter national champion and 1996 Olympian. Since enter- ing his program, I have seen a significant improvement in my performances and feel like it was a necessary change for me to improve and be ready for London.

At what point did you realize that London was a possibility, and how did your change after that re- alization? I always feel that everything is a possibility, so you need be prepared for it, but expect it. Since 2008, my mindset and training plan were always focused on London, and so I continued to train hard toward returning to the Olympics. Never once did I feel like my entry would be secured because if I did that, I would lose my mental and competitive edge. What is your very first memory of the Olympics? Describe your feeling about your sport back then. When I was 5 or 6, my dad bought my brother and I a copy of the Barcelona video game for the Sega Genesis.

After that I thought that all Olympic Games were held in Barcelona. As I got a little older I figured it out. I think that initial introduction to the term helped spark my desire to represent Guam in international competitions. How are you physically different from four years ago? LONDON For all the sights and sounds that blow my mind here at the 2012 London Olympics, nothing tousles my hair quite like my first glances into the athletes village. It took me long enough to get here, with the extra million people here causing train delays, but no doubt it was worth a million extra waits.

barely walked 100 yards and already I am overwhelmed. what it looks like for the first few steps: First, greeted by the International Olympic Committee logo on your left, with an unlit torch. Then you walk through a gauntlet of sponsor services: UPS postal services, a ticket box office for the few remaining sports event tickets on sale, a general store, a room dedicated to photography services that offers various backgrounds of famous London sights, a Samsung phone By Phillip H. Blas Pacific Daily News Hard work and perseverance have paid off for former Chalan Pago resident Gabrielle Evaristo as she was recognized by the Elite Showcase as one of the top 75 high school girl soccer players in the nation. Evaristo, 14, was selected to play in the Elite Showcase July 2224 in Maryland.

It was an all-expense-paid trip in which she was given the opportuni- ty to train with the best players in the country, showcasing her talents in front of top college coaches. According to the Elite Showcase website, it invites the top 100 high school sophomore and junior soccer players in the country to showcase their skills in a unique all-star environment. As a former Guam national 16 soccer player, goal is to train under the Olympic Development Program in Fullerton, Calif. in hopes of one day See Boy go Page 45 See Mandell Page 45 See Evaristo Page 45 Photo courtesy of Derek Mandell Speed, speed, speed: Team Guam runner Derek Mandell is shown here at the Oceania Track and Field Championships held in June in Cairns, Australia, where he ran a personal-best 1 minute and 56.5 seconds in the 800 meters. Evaristo played in elite soccershowcase For more photos, go to WWW.GUAM- PDN.COM PHOTOS ONLINE Athletes village is awesome For more photos, go to WWW.GUAM- PDN.COM PHOTOS ONLINE Photo courtesy of the Evaristo family Top player: Former Guam resident Gabrielle Evaristo is shown in action with the Albion Soccer Club in California.

She is a former member of the Guam national under-16 soccer team..