Staff GB runner Rose Harvey has revealed that she accomplished the Paris Olympics ladies’s marathon with a damaged leg.
The 31-year-old completed 78th in Sunday’s race, clocking a time of two hours, 51 minutes and three seconds.
“This was far from the Olympics I dreamed of, but still an experience of a lifetime,” Harvey wrote on Instagram, accompanied by an image of her on crutches after arriving again within the UK.
“I was so excited to step on that stage, show that I had what it takes to be part of Team GB and most importantly, do everyone proud who has helped me get to this point.
“And simply a few weeks in the past, it was wanting so good. Coaching had been stellar. Then I developed a little bit of tightness in my hip.
“My unimaginable group and I put in a lot work to make the beginning line match and wholesome, and we have been all optimistic that with a little bit of race day adrenaline I’d be capable of run the race I knew I had in me.
“A couple of miles in, I quickly realised that wasn’t going to happen. The next 24 miles were a painful battle. It turns out I had stress fractured my femur.”
Harvey, whose private finest within the marathon is 2:23:21, continued: “In any other race, I would have stopped and there were so many moments when I thought I couldn’t take another step. The downhills were hell.
“However regardless of that almost all of my race objectives having slipped away, there was nonetheless a tiny a part of my Olympic dream that I might dangle on to – and that was ending the Olympic marathon.
“I couldn’t give up. I kept telling myself to smile, soak up the energy of the incredible crowds and just put one foot in front of the other.
“It was heartbreaking. However being a part of the Olympics is one thing I am going to always remember and having the ability to share the race with so a lot of my superb family and friends meant the world to me.”
Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports activities app, giving Sky Sports activities prospects entry to over 50 per cent extra stay sport this 12 months at no further price. Discover out extra right here.
