Page 29 - Team TTO PARIS 2024

Most athletes are doing their best to manage little niggles, It’s important to not dwell on the situation.”
if not outright injuries and go into competition with just the
right amount of races and training load under their belt. As While culture is not usually part of the conversation when
Rich-ards stressed, “you don’t want to go into the Games we talk about how athletes pre-pare, recover and perform,
over raced, but you don’t want to be un-der raced either.” Richards and Gordon both insisted that as a nation we do
our athletes a disservice by bashing them pre and post
Gordon who battled with injuries in the latter half of his international events like the Olympics. “If we make it to the
career, stressed that most top ath-letes, when faced with World Cup in football it is a big deal and celebrated as
an injury find it hard to make the decision to not compete. such, but it’s not the same for individual athletes. If you
An injury has to be catastrophic - think broken ankles or a don’t win you’re a loser. If you’re a finalist you’re a loser.
torn achilles level of severity. Same if you’re a semi-finalist or a qualifier,” said Richards.

Australian swim legend Cate Campbell recently shared on As a fitness enthusiast I too have experienced first hand
IG that in the 14 months since she’s been back training for the doubt, the fear, the anxiety and the disappointment
the Paris Games, she has had seven cortisone injections. that comes as a side dish to injury and recovery. I feel
In the caption she wrote, “It’s a reminder of the daily great pride when our athletes scale a podium but l find it
questions, elite athletes ask of themselves. To anyone else patently unfair when commentators who don’t rou-tinely
struggling with injuries, keep being creative, try and stay cover or write about our athletes start asking if they will
positive and find a good support team.” bring home medals and where they can come from.

Her statement was reflected in the words of Richards who Every athlete who dons the red, white and black this year
was open about the work he does with his sport in Paris would have battled through pain, injury and
psychologist to make sure that he is mentally ready for self-doubt to qualify for Paris 2024. Regardless of their
whatever life and sport throws at him. When it comes to individual results, we should celebrate their willingness to
injuries he said, "Acceptance is the first part. You have to endure, and to finish a race that few even dare to attempt.
accept it for what it is, look for the first way forward andput
together a treatment plan with your doctor and team. Dzifa Job is a communications professional, television presenter, sports agent,
writer and fitness enthusiast.

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