<p>Double Olympic javelin champion Andreas Thorkildsen said the emergence of Matthias de Zordo would motivate him to launch his “stick” further and further afield this year. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The Norwegian has largely prevailed in his rivalry with Finn Tero Pitkamaki to dominate the event for the last few years but German De Zordo surprised them both to claim gold at the Daegu World Championships last year. <br /><br />All three throwers will be in action at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting on Saturday, where 30-year-old Thorkildsen will open a season he is hoping will climax with a third straight Olympic triumph. <br /><br />“I'm looking forward to competing against Matthias and Tero and the others,” he told reporters on Thursday. “It will be interesting to see how everybody performs this early in the season and what everyone's capable of throughout the year. <br /><br />“It's always fun to have new competitors like Matthias, he did a really good job last year and the year before, really rising to the occasion at the European Championships in 2010 and the worlds last year,” he said. <br /><br />“He's a really interesting thrower and he's got great capacity and the more people throw far, the more I want to throw far. It creates interesting competition and that's the way I want it.”<br /><br />Thorkildsen, who has thrown in excess of 90 metres for the last four years, lost out to arch-rival Pitkamaki in Shanghai last season and was by no means confident that he would start his Olympic year with a bang. <br /><br />“You never really know what the first meet's going to be like,” he said. “Training's been going good and I hope I can throw 85 plus but I have had great first meets and then I've had (poor) ones. <br /><br />“Hopefully it'll go good and preparations have been going good so, we'll see.”<br />Thorkildsen may compete for his Scandinavian home at international level but he has escaped the bitter Norwegian winters to train in San Diego for several years and his accent and appearance now bear a distinctly Californian stamp. The first male javelin thrower to hold the European, world and Olympic titles when he won World Championship gold in 2009, Thorkildsen has been competing at the top level with great success for more than a decade now. <br /><br />It is not just competition from the likes of De Zordo that keeps him motivated as he embarks on another year of sprinting 20 metres and launching the 2.5-metre long, 800-gm shaft of metal into the sky. <br /><br />“I still enjoy it,” he said. “My training has so many factors that throwing is just a part of it so out of 11 sessions only two or three will be throwing. <br /><br />“That's I guess what helps me stay motivated and gets me through the weeks...I have a lot of stuff I can do for training, not just throwing a stick. <br /><br />“It's still fun, especially looking forward to starting my competitions, I do training to compete and this is where it starts, I'm looking forward to it.”</p>
<p>Double Olympic javelin champion Andreas Thorkildsen said the emergence of Matthias de Zordo would motivate him to launch his “stick” further and further afield this year. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The Norwegian has largely prevailed in his rivalry with Finn Tero Pitkamaki to dominate the event for the last few years but German De Zordo surprised them both to claim gold at the Daegu World Championships last year. <br /><br />All three throwers will be in action at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting on Saturday, where 30-year-old Thorkildsen will open a season he is hoping will climax with a third straight Olympic triumph. <br /><br />“I'm looking forward to competing against Matthias and Tero and the others,” he told reporters on Thursday. “It will be interesting to see how everybody performs this early in the season and what everyone's capable of throughout the year. <br /><br />“It's always fun to have new competitors like Matthias, he did a really good job last year and the year before, really rising to the occasion at the European Championships in 2010 and the worlds last year,” he said. <br /><br />“He's a really interesting thrower and he's got great capacity and the more people throw far, the more I want to throw far. It creates interesting competition and that's the way I want it.”<br /><br />Thorkildsen, who has thrown in excess of 90 metres for the last four years, lost out to arch-rival Pitkamaki in Shanghai last season and was by no means confident that he would start his Olympic year with a bang. <br /><br />“You never really know what the first meet's going to be like,” he said. “Training's been going good and I hope I can throw 85 plus but I have had great first meets and then I've had (poor) ones. <br /><br />“Hopefully it'll go good and preparations have been going good so, we'll see.”<br />Thorkildsen may compete for his Scandinavian home at international level but he has escaped the bitter Norwegian winters to train in San Diego for several years and his accent and appearance now bear a distinctly Californian stamp. The first male javelin thrower to hold the European, world and Olympic titles when he won World Championship gold in 2009, Thorkildsen has been competing at the top level with great success for more than a decade now. <br /><br />It is not just competition from the likes of De Zordo that keeps him motivated as he embarks on another year of sprinting 20 metres and launching the 2.5-metre long, 800-gm shaft of metal into the sky. <br /><br />“I still enjoy it,” he said. “My training has so many factors that throwing is just a part of it so out of 11 sessions only two or three will be throwing. <br /><br />“That's I guess what helps me stay motivated and gets me through the weeks...I have a lot of stuff I can do for training, not just throwing a stick. <br /><br />“It's still fun, especially looking forward to starting my competitions, I do training to compete and this is where it starts, I'm looking forward to it.”</p>