By David Polkinghorne
Her Olympic debut reduced her to tears, but Canberra javelin thrower Kelsey-Lee Roberts is using it as inspiration towards getting to Tokyo in 2020.
Roberts will compete for the first time since she missed the final at last year's Olympic Games in Brazil when she takes to the field for the Athletics ACT championships at the AIS Track on Saturday.
Kelsey-Lee Roberts has her sights set on the Olympic final ... and a pin from Serena Williams.Credit: Chris McGrath
She'll "blow out some cobwebs" in the women's javelin, which starts at 2.30pm.
The 25-year-old said there were plenty of words to describe her Olympic campaign - disappointment, deflated, defeated.
But she's using them all as motivation as she builds towards the Australian championships in Sydney in March and she'll hope to pick up a world championship qualifying distance along the way.
"Disappointment. I guess you can use all the words around that as well. The biggest thing for me was not performing on that world stage and doing what I know I'm capable of doing," Roberts said.
"I guess you walk away feeling a bit deflated and defeated and disappointed. There's lots of words to describe all of those.
"You learn and you grow, and I've come back wanting more and that's what I take away from that, just trying to put the result behind me and start 2017 fresh.
"I'm healthy so there's nothing that's going to stop me."
Roberts' heart went out to her fellow Olympian Kim Mickle, after the javelin thrower-cum-footballer wrecked her knee in her AFL Women's debut.
Mickle graphically dislocated her shoulder while competing at Rio and will now need a knee reconstruction after she tore her anterior cruciate ligament playing for Fremantle last weekend.
"I just feel so sorry for her, absolutely gut-wrenching news when you have that back-to-back," Roberts said.
"You think she's coming in to have a crack at the women's AFL and to go down like that in the first game is just awful, so wishing her a speedy recovery."
ATHLETICS ACT CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday: Events from 2pm-8.45pm. Sunday from 8.45am-1.30pm.