Her silver medal in the women’s javelin caused one of the bigger surprises at the Moscow 2013 World Championships, and SPIKES discovers that the multi-talented Kim Mickle has had one hell of a journey.

If you need a clear illustration for the skill, power and sheer dynamism required to be an elite javelin thrower, take a look at Kim Mickle in action in YouTube:

Just to recap, Mickle fired Aussie Rules footballs through two posts from acute angles, performed several gymnastics tricks, and perhaps even most impressively, kicked and hurled balls into a basketball hoop from one end of the court to the other.

So when SPIKES caught up with the recently minted world silver medallist, we could not resist asking about the video, and how many attempts she had before perfecting the act.

“I got it through the posts on my first attempt,” she says in a matter-of-fact way. “Mind,” she says, “it took me about ten minutes to kick it through the hoop.”

As a youngster, Kim could throw the cricket ball further than her brother, Brett, who was three years older. But javelin was her calling. From the age of 13, it has been her addiction.

Aged 16 she landed the javelin gold medal at the World Youth Championships in Hungary: a competition at which both US sprinter Allyson Felix and Kiwi shot putter Valerie Adams struck gold.

Though Felix and Adams quickly graduated into the senior ranks with supreme success, Mickle’s progression has been anything but smooth.

The problems can be traced back to the 2002 World Junior Championships in Jamaica, where she was expected to contend for gold. Instead, with her second throw she “completely snapped the ligaments in my elbow.” She wound up ninth and faced almost three seasons out of the sport.

“I had to have two elbow reconstructions, because the first one didn’t work,” says Mickle. “One surgeon said I wouldn’t be able to throw again, but I was pretty determined I did not want to give up. I went to another surgeon and he gave me a 50-50 chance. I loved those odds.”

The surgery was a success, and after a period focusing on soccer, where she played striker for Western Australia, she returned to throwing in 2005.

A year later, the agony was of a different nature as a “heart-breaking” sixth round throw by Jamaican Olivia McKoy denied her a podium place by just 0.09m at the Commonwealth Games.

No real progress was made internationally in 2007 and 2008, and after she failed to qualify for world or Olympic teams, a moment of clarity helped transform her career.

Kim’s journey: Mickle has taken the long way round to reach the top of her sport

“I’d worked full-time but I was not quite up to the world standard,” says Mickle, a heavy metal enthusiast. “I thought after 2008: ‘bugger this I’ve started to plateau’. I’m always tired because I’m working full-time and I’m never recovering. I quit my job, focused on javelin, went into my savings and gave javelin a red-hot crack.”

The move paid instant dividends. In 2009 she improved her personal best by more than four metres to 63.48m, the following year she won the Commonwealth Games silver in New Delhi.

In 2011, under her long time coach Grant Ward, she approached the World Championships in Daegu in “amazing shape” but disaster struck during qualification.

Mickle jammed her SR (sacroiliac) joint, and her back went into spasm. She made it into the final but was unable to get any rotation into her shoulder. She then cracked a rib with her fourth round attempt.

Despite competing in intolerable pain, she somehow carried on and uncorked her two longest throws of the competition in rounds five and six: finishing sixth overall.

“I was internally bleeding and although the adrenaline of the competition kept me going, after I went back to the warm up track I felt my whole body starting to shut down. It wasn’t a pleasant next couple of months.”

London 2012 proved another sobering experience. In shape, she believed, to set an Australian record, she inexplicably failed to perform under the intense glare of Olympic competition. She finished 17th, and failed to advance to the final.

Convinced she needed a fresh mental approach she sought the help of a sports psychologist for the first time in her career, Brian Miller. He has proved to be the elixir for her success.

“I knew my body was in great shape, but now my brain is up to scratch as well,” she says. “This past year Brian has prepared me for competitions by helping me visualise for every different scenario.”

It worked a charm in Moscow. In qualifying she hit a personal best of 65.73m before unleashing her ‘boom’ tactic (hitting the javelin as hard as she could in the way a golfer would sometimes tee off with maximum velocity).

In the final, she produced the two best throws of her life. Mickle’s 66.60m effort secured silver, and was within 0.20m of the Australian record held by Louise McPaul-Currey.

Check this out! Mickle shows off her silver at Moscow 2013

The 13-year national record mark and the Commonwealth title are Mickle’s chief goals for 2014, but after years of toil, heartache and pain – what does it feel like to finally climb a global podium?

“It means the world,” she says. “I’ve trained really hard and put everything into it. I’ve lived off my savings, always struggled financially and just kept on doing javelin because I love what I do.

“I’ve always had the vision I could throw the distances that I have this season. I’ve literally committed my whole life to this and it is nice to see some rewards.”