When race walker Nathan Deakes walks into his pool room, there is a vacant spot on the wall where an Olympic gold medal should hang.
He has a world championship, a swag of Commonwealth golds and even an Olympic bronze but that one elusive medal stands out.
It's something that has kept the Canberran going through all the injuries that have cruelled his career in recent years.
As the world champion in 2007, Beijing was where Deakes was meant to win gold but an injured hamstring required surgery and forced him to withdraw from the 2008 Olympics, and he has struggled ever since.
However, yesterday Deakes took his next step towards filling that spot on the wall when he was officially pre-selected for the 50km walk at the London Games, which start in July.
It was news Deakes was expecting.
He was second in last year's Australian 50km championship and has posted two qualifying times. But it no doubt distracted him as he revised his honours thesis for his Law degree.
''If I can get through this year relatively uninjured and do a proper preparation that I haven't been able to do for a while, I know I'll stand at the start line as competitive as anybody else and hopefully come away with the one thing that's missing from my medal cabinet,'' Deakes said.
The 34-year-old knows London will be his swansong in terms of big international meets and that there won't be any more world championships, Commonwealth Games or an Olympic Games to secure that elusive gold medal.
Along with Jared Tallent and Luke Adams, he forms a strong contingent of male Australian race walkers who are all ranked in the top eight in the world.
.gif)
