Southeast Alberta Olympian taking a year off to recuperate
Medicine Hat’s own Sage Watson has made the difficult decision to take the year off, so she can better represent her country in events to come.
Last year, approximately a month a half before the Olympics, Watson injured her back. Despite her best attempts to prepare, she was unable to have the Olympic performance she wanted due to this condition.
“I just thought I would recover and heal up and then this year, winning going into the year I was really excited. This year, the World Championships are in Oregon. So obviously I wanted to get ready and prepared for that. But the injury in my back kind of came back,” said Watson. “It was a huge struggle to try to find out what exactly was going on. I did see a lot of doctors and I had multiple MRIs, X-rays, bone scans, blood tests, ultrasounds, just so many things.”
Watson noted that one of the major factors was an extremely high level of cortisol, the stress hormone, due to her body trying to train through the injury.
“talking with doctors and physiotherapists, especially with Team Canada, about what would be best for me and for this injury, obviously, because I can’t run, and we decided to just give me some time to heal and recover,” said Watson. “And instead of racing this summer, take it as a time to get back healthy again. So it’s a very hard decision, obviously sad, I always want to be able to run and represent my country. But next year is the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. And the year after that is actually the Olympic Games in Paris. So there’s a few big things coming up within these next few years. And I just want to be able to make sure I’m healthy and I’m ready to go to represent Canada at those next two big events.”
Normally there’s an off year for professional athletes in the cycle between the olympics and world championships, said Watson, but with COVID-19 throwing everything out of sync, there isn’t a planned off year for some time yet. Watson has decided to make this her off year, to prepare for the next several years of competing.
While she recovers, she may be down, but she’s hardly idle.
“Because I was dealing with this injury, I haven’t really had the opportunity to continue my education. So I am currently taking courses and nutrition and physical training online so that, I can just gain more knowledge for myself or for my sport,” said Watson, “and what I want to continue to do, while I’m in my athletic career and after is really helped people with nutrition, with health and wellness and with sports. So I’m really excited to be learning more and spending my time further educating myself and have a better understanding of the human body and of nutrition.”
Watson also continues to work with her sponsors, such as Canada Beef, alongside her coursework and her physiotherapy and rehabilitation.
“And then of course, it’s summertime. So trying to use this year that I have off to actually get to spend time with friends and family, which I haven’t really got to do in quite some time because of traffic is always consuming my summer,” said Watson. “We track athletes, we never get summers off, we usually get the fall off. And everybody knows the falls aren’t as much fun as summer. So it’s been really nice to do some summer activities.”
Watson said that she’s on the right track to be recovered in time for next year, and is looking forward to getting back out there with the support of her family, friends, and the community she calls home behind her.
“It’s been so great to stay connected with the community. I’m staying connected through the Strong Kids program with the YMCA,” said Watson. “So still having that community connection to Medicine Hat has been so important to me and to support kids and sports within the community. So always, just thank you to Medicine Hat for all the support and Cypress County for all the support they’ve given me over these last few years. And of course, I can’t wait to make everyone proud.”