Erwin sets modest target for his personal best

Erwin sets modest target for his personal best

JAKARTA (JP): Men's sprinter Erwin Heru Susanto never dreamed
of performing in the Olympic Games, but the 26-year-old seized
the opportunity when it presented itself.

Erwin clocked a time of 10.16 seconds to finish second in the
100m at the 2000 National Games (PON) in East Java in June. To
his surprise, this time also qualified him for the Olympics.

Together with Yanes Raubaba and John Herman Murray, who
finished first and third respectively in the same event, he will
compete in the 100m at the quadrennial event.

All three sprinters also broke the old national record of
10.20 seconds set by Mardi Lestari in Jakarta on Dec. 4, 1987.
Yanes set the new record at 10.13.

"I'm happy that I qualified for the Olympics. I think I
deserved it as the East Java team prepared for 18 months for PON.
We performed well," he said.

He expressed hope he would be able to shave time off his
personal best at the Olympics.

Erwin appeared bashful during the interview, and simply
grinned when the secretary-general of the Indonesian Amateur
Athletics Association (PASI), Tigor Tanjung, shook his hand after
the inauguration ceremony for Indonesia's Olympic contingent here
on Tuesday.

"Don't humiliate us," Tigor told him with a smile.

Born in Yogyakarta on June 24, 1974, Erwin switched from
soccer to sprinting when he felt like he was stagnating at the
Yogyakarta-based PSIM junior soccer club.

"I played soccer since I was young, but I used to sit on the
substitute bench and watch my teammates play the whole match. I
felt I would go nowhere, so in 1989 I tried my luck in a junior
track and field championships in Jakarta. At the time, I ran
barefoot because I didn't have spikes.

"I managed to win the overall championship in the event and
earned Rp 600,000 in prize money. I bought a pair of spikes for
Rp 200,000 and used the rest to return to Yogyakarta," said the
youngest of three children.

After the championships, Erwin was invited to join the
centralized track and field training center at Senayan Madya
stadium.

Erwin had the courage to make a major life change and move to
East Java after he was unable to compete in the 1997 Southeast
Asian Games here due to a hamstring injury.

"Since I moved to East Java in 1998, I have wanted to give my
all. The East Java authorities gave me a job as an official at
the youth affairs and sports agency of the provincial
administration.

"At the time I was having problems getting a job. Athletics
does not promise a good livelihood. PASI pledged to give me a
job, but I waited a long time for it," he said.

Erwin, who also runs the 200m and 4x100m relay, said his
ambition now was to break the national record of 20.93 in the
200m set by Purnomo Yudi Wijaya in Los Angeles on Aug. 6, 1984.

"The 100m national record has been surpassed, but Purnomo's
record hasn't. I am eager to break it," said Erwin, who also
takes classes at the School of Social and Political Science at WR
Supratman University in Surabaya.

He said he would run as long as he was able. "I might take
part in the 2004 PON in Palembang, South Sumatra. After that, I
don't know. But I think I will run when I'm in my 30s. I remember
that Mardi was still running when he was 33." (ivy)