The shock of losing her career-long coach Maxine Corcoran, who died in late November, has spurred Kelly Hetherington to new heights and hopes of an Olympic qualifying run in the 800m at the Sydney Track Classic at Homebush on Saturday.

"She was a very tough lady - one of a kind," Hetherington, 22, said of Corcoran, who won silver medals in Australia's 4x400m relay at the 1978 Edmonton and 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games. "Maxine had coached me for five years. We didn't see it coming," Hetherington said of Corcoran's sudden death due to a brain tumour.

"It's still very fresh, I'm still grieving. But in the end I'll use her example in life as an inspiration. She would hate you to miss out on anything and I think she knew this season was going to be a good one."

Read the full article at the Daily Telegraph