DOUBLE Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah was seriously considering withdrawing from the recent Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA)/Ministry of Sports/Supreme Ventures National Senior Championships at National Stadium after her achilles injury flared up in late May.

Thompson-Herah, who qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, that starts later this month after placing third in both 100m and 200m, said she feared at one point that she would not be able to defend her titles.
“Honestly, I have to give God thanks; right now I am in tears, yes tears of joy, but I am trying to hold it together,” she told the Jamaica Observer Sunday morning after the 200m final.
“Three weeks ago, I did not know that I would be standing here today making it to another Olympic Games.”

Thompson-Herah, who has battled the injury for more than two years, thought she had got over it, but said it flared up in late May as she was preparing to compete at the opening Diamond League meet in Gateshead in England.
“It’s the same Achilles injury, it just showed up abruptly, a couple days before I was to go to London. I tested it in training and told coach I am not able to go to London and run, and so we decided not to go. I took a week off from training to get treatment but the pain was still there,” Thompson-Herah said.

Frustrated with the injury after she had worked so hard, she noted she sought intervention from a higher source.
“God is my best friend now, I spoke to God and I said, ‘I am hurt, I am not able to train, how am I going to get to Trials and compete?’,” she said.
“I don’t know what has happened in the last week and half [as] God showed up and I came out and make my second Olympic team and I am just grateful and ready to go to Tokyo,” Thompson-Herah beamed.

Prior to the national championships, she shared that she weighed all her options as she was not sure where it would end.
“My mind was all over the place. Am I going to be well enough to run at trials or should I get an exemption form?” she said.
“But I just really wanted to come out here and compete because I had been in and out of practice and not able to put in the work.”

Thompson-Herah, who ran 10.84 seconds for the 100m and 22.02 seconds in the 200m, said she learned a lot from her five races throughout the weekend.
“Coming out here paid off…I still have to monitor the leg and put in the work[as] it’s not a lot of time left, but we are working hard,” she ended. (Jamaica Observer)