The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Philip ready for her games homecoming
Sprinter eyes medal after Olympic disappointment
Sprinter Asha Philip insists she wants to make up for lost time at the World Championships after being robbed of her home Olympics.
The 26-year-old is going for 100 metres glory in London this weekend just a few miles from where she was born in Leyton.
Philip missed London 2012 with a hamstring problem having recovered from a serious knee injury, caused while trampolining as a junior, which forced her out of the Beijing Games four years earlier.
But, after winning 4x100m bronze with Team GB in Rio last year, Philip is ready for a World Championships homecoming at the London Stadium in Stratford.
“No one ever wants to miss out on a home Olympics. I’m never going to get that chance ever again, that’s why I feel 2017 is going to be my calling,” she said, ahead of the 100m heats on Saturday and semi-final and final on Sunday.
“I’m wiser, stronger and being there as an individual and the relay means so much more to me.
“My knee was that tragic, it wasn’t something that was easy. You don’t realise how much it bends when you walk, I learned that when I broke it funnily enough.
“People sometimes forget, they said I’ve been around for such a long time but it’s been difficult for me, it’s not been easy. I broke my knee, you can’t just walk back on the track.
“I had to get a whole reconstruction and was on crutches for six months, I don’t mind telling the story because it shows you can come back from injuries.”
Philip was part of the quartet, including Desiree Henry, Dina AsherSmith and Daryll Neita, which completed an astonishing turnaround to win bronze at the Rio Olympics – Britain’s first medal in the event for 32 years.
Philip, also part of the relay squad this year, added: “We knew we were capable of doing it, we kept going faster as individuals and gelling as a team but when you actually do it, how did we do it? It’s hard to explain.”
Meanwhile, Max Whitlock insists backing up his Rio triumph with further medal success remains a higher priority than cashing in on a rumoured Strictly Come Dancing appearance.
The double Olympic champion has been tipped to be named among the list of celebrity contestants when the line-up for the hit BBC show is revealed.
But the 24-year-old gymnast says he will not be following in the footsteps of Team GB colleague Louis Smith – who won the 2012 edition – as his focus remains purely on adding to his lengthy list of titles.
Whitlock is ready to return to action after taking self-imposed six-month break from the sport in order to “upgrade” his routines ahead of October’s World Championships in Montreal.
Now he wants to cement the legacy he started building with his floor and pommel horse gold triumphs at the 2016 Games in Brazil by repeating the feat at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I’ve seen those Strictly rumours but for me it’s mainly about gymnastics,” he told Press Association Sport. “I’m focusing on getting those upgrades to my routines in and doing what I need to do in the sport.
“My target was to go and get those titles and I feel so proud to have done that.
“For me as an athlete, that was an amazing achievement. If you look around at other athletes, the legends are the ones who have stayed in the sport and retained titles because that job is so, so hard.
“So that’s my next massive target and that’s why I’m in the gym training as hard as I can.
“Gymnastics is the massive priority for me. It’s all about being the best I can be for as long as I can. That will always be my focus.”
My target was to go and get those titles and I feel so proud to have done that. MAX WHITLOCK