Groves is back after horror year
MADELINE Groves says she has rediscovered her love of swimming after a tough year battling illness and a possible drug ban.
A silver medallist in the 200m butterfly at the Rio Olympics, Groves led the field through the first half of Wednesday night’s final at the Commonwealth Games swimming trials but faded on the way home as the dramas of the past year caught up with her.
Groves had faced a oneyear ban after allegedly missing three drug tests for not updating her “whereabouts” with testers.
But she successfully appealed the ban proposed by international swimming body FINA, although the monthslong battle took its toll.
After a move to the Gold Coast with coach Michael Bohl, now based at Griffith University, Groves seemed back on track until illness hit late last year, with the 22-yearold eventually needing surgery for endometriosis.
“I’m good now. I did have an operation for endometriosis at the end of last year,” she said.
“I finally got over the ‘whereabouts’ stuff and (finding out I had endometriosis) was a very literal kick in the guts. I still have adenomyosis (a separate condition of the uterus) which I’m dealing with but since I’ve had the operation, it’s taken a little while to recover but it’s really under control now.”
Despite some suggestion Groves would decide not to swim at trials, she said the lure of a home Games was too hard to resist.
“Obviously the Commonwealth Games is a really exciting event for us and I actually live down on the Gold Coast now, so it really is a home event for me,” she said.