Painful burden hard to shoulder
BRONTE Campbell’s body is so battered even simple leisure activities are a pain.
Campbell will take a leaf out of older sister Cate’s book later this year when she takes a break from the sport, in her case, to help heal her tortured body.
Shoulder, hip and back issues inflict such discomfort that any activity other than lying in a bed becomes painful.
“I’ve been learning guitar, but that hurts my back, so I can’t do that,” she said.
“It’s very frustrating. “There is not any part of my life that (doesn’t hurt). If you’re sitting down, your back’s sore, if you’re standing, your hip’s sore, lying down in a bed is basically the safest option for me.”
Campbell will not need surgery on her shoulders but complete rest is one of the few remedies that could help her return pain-free to push on to Tokyo in the shape that helped her outsprint older sister Cate to become world record-holder in 2015.
And it is Cate’s own postOlympic break that is helping spur Campbell’s sabbatical.
“It’s done a lot for Cate, stopping and letting her injuries settle and then getting back into it, she doesn’t seem to have lost very much,” she said.
“That’s always the fear when you take a break that you’re never going to get fit again. It’s been great that Cate’s taken a break and come back better than ever, so that’s encouraging to see.”
Both Campbell sisters will head into Thursday’s 100m freestyle in fine form, with Bronte putting a strong stretch of training together ahead of trials, partly due to the mental light at the end of the tunnel.
“When I made the decision in about November to take the break, I knew there was just four or five months left and I could push through everything I needed to do to get through that and then stop and reset,” she said.
“It’s definitely been a big motivating factor for me and I’m glad I made the decision just to get me through.”
Cate Campbell returned from her post-Rio break determined to push on to the Tokyo Games, something she had not thought possible even as recently as last year.
“It’s allowed me to look further into the future for my career, I’ve definitely mapped out a plan for 2020,” she said.
“Now because I know that I can take breaks and I can come back from them, I can see through to 2020, which is really exciting.”