No trouble or strife at home for Martyn

Martyn Rooney MARTYN ROONEY’S dedication to athletics is summed up by the fact he missed the birth of his first child to run at the World Championships in Beijing last August.

Other wives may not have been quite so understanding. But the 29-year-old 400m star is married to former British pole vault record holder Kate Dennison.

However, that didn’t stop one of the hard men of the track breaking down in tears when Kate texted him a picture of his new son, Jack.

“I’m very lucky that Kate understands,” says Martyn. “We agreed that I wouldn’t fly home from China unless there was a problem.

“She went into contractions after I’d lost in my semi-final and my son was born on the day of the final.

“I still had the relay to run and I was waiting in one of the hospitality areas with Christian Taylor, who won triple-jump gold in London, and his family.

“I got a picture by text and Christian’s dad said: ‘Don’t start crying’. But I had to run out of the room. I went out the back and bawled my eyes out.

“Kate was a two-time Olympian in Beijing and London and now she’s retired she keeps telling me I’m among the most-privileged people in the world because I do something that I love.

“She regularly gives me a kick up the backside to make sure I don’t feel sorry for myself if I’ve lost. I’ve always said that athletics is 99% failure and 1% success and she tells me to put away the little violin and just get on with it.

“She also brings me back down to earth when things have gone right, so I’m very lucky she keeps me in check.

“Kate has been saving up for a couple of years to be in Rio to watch but we’ve made the tough decision that she’ll stay at home.

“It’s nothing to do with the Zika virus. It was more to do with what people have said about the unrest in Brazil. It would be irresponsible for me to put my wife and son in any danger.”