Rivalries in sport capture our attention, and there is no denying the showdown between shot putters Jacko Gill and world indoor bronze medallist Tom Walsh is much anticipated in New Zealand.
The two athletes have been trash-talking and challenging each other since Walsh shocked everyone with his bronze efforts in Poland a few weeks ago, momentarily taking the spotlight away from the young prodigy.
Gill responded to the challenge posed by Walsh by posting another frenetic video of himself training in his family's Takapuna shed. It was like a scene out of a Rocky movie watching this young man jumping, pushing, punching, and shunting hundreds of kilograms around like a person possessed. I half expected to see a beef carcass hanging from the rafters being used as a punching bag!
It is not very often that two individuals in the same sport and in the same country can push each other to excel and extend themselves, so even though they compete for a place on the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team, they are also helping each other to rise to the occasion, or in their case, throw like there is no tomorrow.
It looks like those eager to see these two power-houses biffing balls around in the same arena will have to wait a little longer.
Gill is struggling with injuries as he makes the transition from a 6kg shot to a 7.26kg one. Next time you're tempted to laugh at someone putting an additional 1.5kg weight on the Olympic bar as they go for a PB on the bench press or squat rack, ask Gill how much of a difference 1kg can make to his training regime, his performance, and his body's ability to adapt.
Having recovered from finger problems as a result of the heavier shot, Gill's groin is now being unco-operative, which means he may not be ready in time for the national track and field championships in Wellington at the end of the month.
Gill's father, Walter (a former thrower of the discus and shotput himself), has announced his 19-year-old son may not be ready to face the 22-year-old Walsh in that arena just yet.
It's easy to forget Gill's 118kg power-infused mass is housed in a 19-year-old body that is still maturing. Perhaps it is his youthful enthusiasm and feeling of invincibility that drives him to train so hard and to record these sessions to share with the world.
Walsh (who isn't much older) seems more reserved in his response, counter-punching with a suggestion he is ''eager to meet'' Gill head to head soon.
There have been many exciting and riveting individual rivalries in sport that have not only been about physical battles but personality battles as well.
Boxing has always been a breeding ground for memorable rivalries between the likes of Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, or Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. Another sport where competitors must beat an opponent into submission to be considered the winner is tennis, and rivalries between the likes of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, and Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal (a rivalry Novak Djokovic has gatecrashed) have kept us glued to centre court on many occasions.
Other sports have involved key players in team sports such as Brady and Manning in the NFL, Bird and Magic in the NBA, and Messi and Ronaldo in football.
Every now and then, a great rivalry will take place in athletics, and such was the case when Seb Coe and Steve Ovett competed for the United Kingdom in the same events. And who can forget the drug-riddled rivalry between Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis in the 100m?So do we have another rivalry here in the athletic arena? Perhaps not on the global stage yet, but definitely the national one.
Shot put is not a glamour sport and Gill and Walsh may not go down in the history books as one of the memorable sporting rivalries but it will still be great to see these two youngsters competing together at the same time, in the same category for the same country.
Fingers and groins crossed that Gill can manage his injuries so that we can determine who is the king (for now) of the shot put circle in New Zealand.
If Gill misses the nationals at the end of March, there are plenty more opportunities for these two to meet. I think we are seeing a ''bro-rivalry'' blooming right before our eyes and it's beautiful.
