O’Donovan back on track after injury
DESPITE her Olympic quest being dealt a huge blow last May with a serious ankle injury leaving her out of action for the rest of the year, Sligo’s Caradh O’Donovan is back and ready to compete once more. The Strandhill Road native is hoping to reach Tokyo 2020 and the karate champion is as determined as ever.
She said: “I’m back training now after the injury and looking forward to getting back to competition. I headed over to a training camp in Montpellier last week after I got an invite to train with the French National Team. This will set me up for my first international event in Denmark at the end of February. And then I’m preparing for the European Championships in Baku at the end of March. The World Olympic Qualification Event is taking place in Paris in early May so that will be the goal really. It’s a very long shot after I’ve been out for a year injured but I’ll give it everything I’ve got!.”
Back in May, she was devastated to hear she would be out of competitive action after an MRI showed cartilage between her ankle and shin had gone, meaning cartilage from her knee had to be removed to replace it. She also had to have her heel re-broken and re-set.
Caradh, who made the switch from being a champion kickboxing athlete to take up karate only a few years ago, had always outlined it was her dream to reach the Olympics. And although being setback through injury, she is as motivated as ever. The 35-year-old, who was last year named in the JCI Ten Outstanding Young People of the Year is also a strong voice when it comes to championing player welfare, especially following the rift in Irish karate over governance last year which saw Caradh and some of her teammates being initially blocked from competition.
While being out injured, she has been working along with fellow athletes at setting up the Irish Karate Athlete Commission.
Caradh said: “The Irish Karate Athlete Commission is almost up and running, we are just waiting for a couple of things to be signed off by the Executive Committee.
“The idea behind this came after the governance and athlete welfare issues we had last year.
“Both the Governing Body and athletes want to make sure that first of all nothing like this will happen ever again. And also there seems to be a need for athlete input into decisions in sport that ultimately impact on them.
“We will be aiming to work with our NGB to make improvements and represent the athlete voice within karate.
“It was initially announced in September 2019 by ONAKAI (NGB) that the Athlete Commission was up and running but we’ve been slightly delayed.
“As someone who’s not very patient it’s something I hope will make progress early this year. But I’m also well aware that our NGB is a volunteer-led organisation and these things often take a little longer to get started.
“It’s also one of the first Athlete Commissions in Irish Olympic Sport and we’re excited to see how it can develop!,” Caradh added.
The Sligo native was certainly active while out through a lengthy injury spell.
She said: “While I was recovering from injury I joined the Start Up Group of Global Athlete.
“It’s a fairly new organisation and they helped us out when we were being blocked from taking part in the European Championships last year. They did an open letter to the World Karate Federation and the IOC which, along with other efforts, helped us get to compete for Ireland.
“And it was after that when I got involved. It’s been an eye opener to hear of other athletes’ experiences in sport.
“I’ve had plenty of challenging issues in sport over the years, and I thought I was alone in that.
“But now I see that this is the same for athletes in all sports, across every country.
“I think we’re coming into a new era in sport, where athletes want to speak up and have representation in the running of sports they love. That can only be a good thing for sport,” Caradh added.