Henry refuses to retire
While Jodie Henry’s mind had been zeroing in on Olympic glory in
Beijing, a ticking injury time-bomb was running down its fuse
inside her finely-tuned body.
The ability to push through the pain barrier has been one of
Henry’s greatest assets in the pool, fuelling her triple-gold
medal-winning feats in Athens that rocketed her to national
acclaim.
Today, an emotional Henry fought back tears as she admitted matter
had finally won out over mind, confirming she would miss the
Olympics after succumbing to a chronic and complicated pelvic
injury.
Henry, 24, will now relinquish her 100m freestyle title and be a
frustrated observer as her beloved 4×100m freestyle and medley
relay teams try to defend gold against strong challenges from the
powerful US and German squads.
“It’s been a hard decision as the Olympics are every swimmer’s
goal. I would have loved to be in Beijing to try and defend my
titles and help the girls to win another relay,” Henry said.
“While missing the relay team is a massive disappointment I’m
pleased that I’ve finally been diagnosed with the right thing and I
can finally start on the road to recovery.”
Henry immediately ruled out retiring and said the injury would only
need a few months of physio and pilates treatment to be fully
healed.
Cruelly, the genetic muscle imbalance that has seen her “curled up
in pain” has manifested itself at the time of the Olympic selection
trials, to be held in Sydney from March 22.
“I’m happy to say I’m definitely not retiring. There’s no way I
want to go out like this. Now I’m just looking at resetting goals
and fixing my injuries,” Henry said.
“It does cross your mind but I quickly put it out of my head. I’m
only 24. I’ve got good swimming years ahead of me. I’m a sprinter.
There’s a 40-year-old trying out for the American team and she’s a
good shot. I can keep on going.”
The puzzling injury has seen Henry being shuffled between doctors
and specialists in the search for a cure to the ailment that has
seen her form steadily slide after the Athens gold rush.
“Basically it’s an imbalance in my muscles around my pelvic area,
which means anytime I swim or do any aerobic exercise I get pain,
so it’s a little bit hard to train when you’re curled up in
pain.
“It’s a little bit genetic. If I was a land-based athlete I would
have had problems years ago but purely because I’m a swimmer the
problems have only started to occur now.
“It was hard. I thought I was a little bit crazy because everyone
was telling me all these different things and the symptoms were so
varying. You start to think sometimes it could have been in your
head. It’s a relief now I finally know what it is.”
While missing the chance to defend her history 100m sprint title is
disappointment enough, Henry said she was gutted not to be able to
stand on the blocks with her relay teammates in China, particularly
long-time rival and close friend Libby Lenton.
“It’s more disappointing that I won’t be in the relays this year.
I’ve really enjoyed being part of that relay. That’s the main thing
I wanted to go to the Olympics for. It would be a massive thing for
us girls to do that. I’m more disappointed I won’t be part of that
team with her (Lenton) again.
“But it’s an Olympic year. You get people coming out of the
woodwork and people stepping up massively. It happened in 2004 with
Libby and myself stepping up, Alice (Mills) stepping up. We all did
what we had to do. I think that will be the case this time around
as well.”
Henry’s optimism would be encouraging to fringe swimmers
like Cate Campbell and Melanie Schlanger, who now have the
opportunity to step up onto the biggest stage. But the reality is
Henry’s absence leaves a gaping hope in Australia’s relay gold
hopes.
Head coach Alan Thompson said he had suspected Henry would be in
danger of missing the trials for the past week and was glad to see
an answer had finally been found to her painful condition.
“I suppose it’s been in the back of my mind for at least a week or
so. I think you always, like Jodie, are always hopeful the pain
will just go away and everything will be fine,” Thompson said.
“But I think as the time has drawn closer to these trials
it’s become a little bit more inevitable. I think the great thing
is that Jodie’s not retiring and we know she’ll be back in the
Australian swimming team, hopefully next year.”
brisbanetimes.com.au
