‘Grieving’ Sally quits

Injury ends bid for gold at Games

ATHLETICS: A heartbroken Sally Pearson is adamant retirement is not an option.

The 31-year-old’s nagging Achilles injury has drawn curtains on her attempt at a Commonwealth Games gold medal three-peat in the 100m hurdles.

The reigning world champion described the decision as “gutwrenching” but said she had left “no stone unturned” in her pursuit to compete.

“I did everything I possibly could,” she said.

“Everyone who is here knows how much of a competitor I am and how much I love to race for my country. But this is about my health and I want to go to Tokyo in 2020.

“Who knows – if I had run what could have happened and it could have been a lot worse and I could have been out for a lot longer than I am now.”

Pearson said dealing with the news was “like grief”.

“There was the numb phase first and then the crying phase … and then speaking to (athletics coach) Craig (Hilliard) and Paul (Blackman, team doctor) and double checking and triple checking it was the right thing to do.”

She said that on Tuesday she was “crying out” in attempting to complete run-throughs, feeling that “someone was grabbing the back of your Achilles and squeezing”.

Unable to train for the past two months, Pearson had held on to hope that her injury would improve in the days leading up to the individual event.

She has also withdrawn from the 4x100 relay team.

Pearson said that the Achilles injury had been a “rollercoaster” that “went a little bit too high for this competition”.

She will spend this year rehabilitating before next year’s world championships and then Tokyo the following year.

Pearson said she was open to changing her training program to suit her body.

“Most definitely. I’m very open minded to programg to suit my body as it is at this time,” she said.

“This will be something that my team and Athletics Australia will nut over … about my loading and my tendons.

“This tendon is going to be very unpredictable.”

Dr Blackman said seeing the physical and mental pain Pearson had endured was difficult.

“We talk about risk and reward, but there’s this line you can’t define where every athlete has to make a decision – is this the right thing to do?” he said.

“There’s naturally this oscillation between ... I can, I can’t. That’s a very difficult thing to reconcile for an athlete.”

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EVERYONE WHO IS HERE KNOWS HOW MUCH OF A COMPETITOR I AM AND HOW MUCH I LOVE TO RACE FOR MY COUNTRY. SALLY PEARSON