Athletics: Saville's road to redemption is paved with gold intentions

The tears of misery in Sydney could become joyous in Manchester for one nearly girl and another who has done it all

The organising committee of the Commonwealth Games reacted with delight last week to the news that Cathy Freeman will be coming to Manchester to compete. They have reason to be happy that the Australian-golden-girl-that-very-nearly-was at the Sydney Olympics is coming too.

Jane Saville could have hardly come closer to following in Freeman's footsteps in Stadium Australia two years ago. She was 120m from victory in the women's 20km walk when the chief judge, Lamberto Vacchi of Italy, emerged from the tunnel entrance to brandish the red card that signalled her defeat. After two prior warnings, the clear race leader had been disqualified for transgressing the basic law of competitive walking: the need to keep both feet in unbroken contact with the ground. As a Sydneysider, with family, friends and an expectant crowd of 97,000 spectators ready and waiting to acclaim her, it was a particularly heartbreaking experience for Saville.

"Do you know," she said on Wednesday afternoon, welcoming news of Freeman's decision to run in the 4 x 400m relay in Manchester and reflecting on their contrasting fates in Sydney, "when I was coming down the ramp into the stadium I was actually thinking, 'I'm going to be like Cathy. I'm going to win a gold medal, just like Cathy'. And then – it was no less than 30 seconds, 40 seconds later – the big red card came out.

"It was like a dream come true that turned into my worst nightmare within a couple of seconds. I didn't think it could happen to me – not in my home town, not in my home Olympics." It had happened to others before. The 6ft 2in red-bearded Dubliner who won the five-mile walk at the 1868 Civil Service championships in London was already across the finish line when the judges disqualified him for what is known in the sport as "lifting". It was a nightmare that may or may not have contributed towards Abraham Stoker turning to the darker side of life. He became better known as Bram Stoker, author of Dracula. "Wow!" Saville said. "I didn't know that... Bram Stoker was a race walker!"

Her reaction to her own disqualification has probably won her more admirers than she would have gained had she continued on her golden path through the tunnel and out on to the track in Stadium Australia.

Her immediate response was to break down in tears and wander aimlessly around the precincts of the stadium in an inconsolable state of shock. She had come to terms with her fate, though, by the time she faced the media. "I will just have to fix my technique," she said. "Obviously there is something wrong with it. It's just the way it goes in race walking. I was coming towards the stadium thinking, 'This is going to be the most awesome experience of my life' and... well, it was just not meant to be. C'est la vie."

One year and 10 months later, Saville remains philosophical. "It was nice that people appreciated my reaction," she said. "I was worried about my sport being portrayed negatively in the media. That's why, first and foremost, I really wanted to make sure people understood the sport, because race walking really is a very technical event. You have to realise that there are a lot of rules you have to know.

"I had such a lot of support in Australia. So many people came up to me in Sydney after my race, not just congratulating me on my performance but also on the way I handled it. That sort of recognition was really lovely. That kept me in high spirits."

It further lifted Saville's spirits that when she came to meet one of her husband's work colleagues he happened to know all about her Sydney Olympic story. Matt White, Saville's other half, is a professional cyclist with the US Postal team. He narrowly missed the cut for their Tour de France line-up but, as a valued domestique, has spent much time and not a little of his energy defending the yellow jersey in stage-race competition for Lance Armstrong – to whom he introduced his wife last year.

"Lance had seen the race in Sydney and he said he couldn't believe it," Saville said. "He was really interested, which was very exciting for me. I was just excited to meet him and to talk to him about himself. He is a great inspiration for Matt and a whole lot of people around the world, the way he's battled back from cancer. He is an amazing man."

And Saville is a pretty amazing woman. She was a swimmer in her youth, good enough to compete in the Australian age-group championships. She has competed in the Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships too, and is still a member of the Marouba Surf Lifesaving Club in Sydney, voluntarily patrolling their patch of beach on lifeguard duty. She has also battled on as a race walker, despite following the bitter disappointment of Sydney with further disqualifications in the 20km races at the national and world championships last year.

"I really thought hard after the world championships about whether I wanted to continue," she said. "I realised that I really love the sport. I didn't want to quit and think back in 20 years' time about what could have been. I wanted to give myself every opportunity to try to go well in an Olympics and obviously in the Commonwealth Games and the world championships too.

"I've really worked hard on my technique this year. My physio at the Institute of Sport in Australia identified some weaknesses and the weights coach has devised a programme for me to try and iron out those weaknesses, to help my technique for race walking."

Saville has also been helped by her coach, Ron Weigel, the former East German walker who won the 50km world title in 1983. The adjustments would appear to be working too, because Saville regained the Australian 20km championship at Brisbane in April. It was a bonus for the 27-year-old that she was followed across the line by her 23-year-old sister, Natalie, who also clinched a place in the Australian team for Manchester.

The Savilles have been preparing together at a high-altitude training camp at Toluca in Mexico, though Jane is now in the Spanish town of Oliva, 35 miles south of Valencia, the European summer base she shares with her husband, a fellow Australian and Sydney Olympian. She moves on to Manchester on Tuesday, and races for Commonwealth gold at Salford Quays a week today – for a second Commonwealth gold, that is. She won the 10km title in Kuala Lumpur four years ago.

"The main thing for me is to finish the race," the elder Saville sister said. "If you want to win medals you've got to finish races and I haven't been doing that in the international championships. So the big aim in Manchester is to finish the race, and hopefully it'll be with a gold medal."

If not, there's always Athens, just two years down the line now. The next best thing to winning in your home-town Olympics must surely be striking gold at the home of the Olympics.