Sally goes from rock bottom to cusp of glory

ATHLETICS: On August 8 last year Sally Pearson took a punt. The Rio Olympics had just started and the 2012 Olympic hurdles champion was at rock bottom.

She was without a coach and had for the first time had a peek at life on the other side. And she didn’t mind it with Pearson and her husband, Kieran, enjoying a skiing holiday to New Zealand with friends, something she’d never been able to do previously.

A broken wrist had forced her out of the 2015 world championships and then hamstring and Achilles problems meant she wasn’t defending her Olympic crown in Rio.

It was the classic crossroads moment.

Pearson decided to push reverse and go back into the world she’d known for the previous 13 years, but there was one significant difference ... she was going to do it by herself.

The history of self-coached athletes at the elite level isn’t great but the queen of Australian athletics figured there was no one more capable of lighting the fire again than herself.

Fast forward 12 months and Pearson is back in the stadium where she had her greatest triumph. And she’s not just making up numbers as she is the third-fastest hurdler in the world in 2017.

Pearson, 30, served notice that she was back as a force at last month’s London Diamond League meet where she ran 12.48sec.

“Most definitely (I had doubts),” she said.

“The only reason I came back was because I knew I had more to give, obviously deep down I knew I was capable of doing it.

“It was more the disappointment that got me down and made me think maybe I shouldn’t be doing this any more, maybe my body can’t handle it.

“But even deeper down I knew I could still do it.”