After winning silver in 2008 and gold in 2012, Pearson had been hoping to complete the rare track and field feat of winning three Olympic medals.
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Australia’s Olympic 100 metres hurdles champion Sally Pearson has pulled out of this summer’s Games with a hamstring injury.
It’s a devastating blow for our golden girl, who only recently returned from a year-long sabbatical after breaking her wrist while competing in June 2015.
The athlete has struggled with track times since her return and finished last at Norway’s Diamond League event earlier this month.
“She’s fought so hard over the past year”, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted her as saying in Perth.
“I have now been home [from Europe] for 6 days, she said”.
Pearson, who is keen to compete at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in her hometown on the Gold Coast, said the danger of going to Rio and aggravating the injury would have hampered that opportunity. “It’s the biggest sporting event in the world that I’m missing out on”.
In a blog post on June 18, Pearson reflected on the “broken bones, torn calf, degenerative achilles and hammy problems” that have plagued her over the past year.
“It is just such a shame for a fantastic champion, a fantastic fighter and if she doesn’t run in Rio I’ll be very, very sad for Sally and the team”.
The 29-year-old had returned to Australia in the lead up to the Games, scheduled to begin on August 5, after she was unable to find strong form on the European circuit.
Pearson had strapping on her left hamstring when she raced in Birmingham, and trailed home in seventh place in 13.25 seconds – nearly a second slower than her personal best and a time she described as “disgusting”.
Pearson, the defending Olympic 100m hurdles champion, suffered the injury while training on the Gold Coast Australian news outlets reported on Wednesday.
“What brings athletes back even after we get pushed down time and time again from disappointment?” she wrote. “For me, it’s the excitement, the fun and the pure determination that I can overcome the setbacks and still deliver my best”.
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She ran a number of sub-par performances in Europe earlier this year; in Birmingham she ran the disappointing time of 13.25 seconds – well off her personal best of 12.28 seconds which she ran in 2011.
