I’m proud of the way Andy dealt with injury and the memory of that dark, dark day in Dunblane
Monday’s premiere was the first time I’d watched Andy’s new documentary on Amazon Prime the whole way through and I was in awe for a variety of reasons.
I was around for parts of the filming and saw just how much time director Olivia Cappuccini spent with Andy, the family and his wider support team.
I don’t think any other elite athlete has given such a candid and raw exposure of themselves in being filmed at their most vulnerable, when they are being tested to their limits both physically and emotionally.
In many ways it goes against the grain with Andy as he is such a private person.
Yet this documentary was his idea – and once he commits to something he is 100% in.
Over the years he’s had a number of major injuries and every time it has created a challenge around who to listen to and who to trust between the doctors, the physios and the trainers.
Because no world-class athlete at the height of their career had undergone hip-resurfacing surgery before and returned to the top level, there was no database to draw on and it was a question of starting from scratch.
In making this film, Andy has given the closest possible insight into the surgery and rehab process so it is easier for others in the same situation to make a more informed decision.
I was hugely proud of his incredible inner strength, his never-say-die attitude, and the passion for his sport.
He loves what he does and was meticulous in his quest to find the right person to do the op as he knew it was his last chance.
The way he opens up in the film has taken some people aback.
He hasn’t talked about what happened at Dunblane much in the past, but it did have an impact as it did on all of us who lived through it.
The boys were too young to understand the enormity of what happened at the time, but then the BBC made a programme 20 years on that Andy watched and he started to remember more about it and was asking lots of questions.
He’s always been one to question things – it’s part of his DNA.
Watching the programme, the enormity hit him and he remembered going to the clubs Thomas Hamilton ran and I think that’s why he has spoken a little more about it.
We’re all products of our environment and that event changed us.
We see the world through different eyes, and maybe we have fought all the harder because of it, too.