Face of Comm Games pulls out
Sally Pearson was the natural choice as the face of the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
The world and former Olympic champion hurdler played a key role in the opening ceremony while knowing she wouldn’t be able to compete next week in her hometown games.
Those formalities complete, she waited until she’d had a night to sleep on it before calling a news conference on Thursday to announce that a long-term Achilles tendon injury had flared up during training this week.
The 31-year-old Pearson said she had no choice but to withdraw from the 100m hurdles and the 4-x100m relay, take some rest and start thinking about the 2019 world championships and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
‘‘Gutted, tears flowing, a lot of emotions, you could call it grief,’’ Pearson said of her reaction after failing to finish a training session and realising that she’d be watching her home games from the sidelines. ‘‘Going through the numb phase first then the crying phase and then speaking to [coaches and medical experts] and double-and triple-checking it was the right decision.’’
It was a setback for Australia’s track team – although she plans to be hands-on despite her noncompetitive role – and for the games. Pearson has had plenty of highs and lows after bursting onto the international stage with a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
She won Olympic gold in London four years later, defended her Commonwealth Games title at Glasgow in 2014 – seven weeks, she said, after tearing a hamstring – and made the biggest comeback in an injury-riddled career to win her second world championship title last year in London.