Throughout Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s career she has often seemed the living epitomy of the Chumbawamba song Tubthumping: she gets down, but she gets up again, and nothing is going to keep her down. But the morning after winning the world heptathlon title – and smashing Jessica Ennis-Hill’s British record in the process – she had a confession to make: there was a moment when she nearly gave up on the event.
Who could have blamed her? For so long the 26-year-old was the bridesmaid but never the bride at a world championships or Olympic Games. And she had so many setbacks, injuries and plunges into sinkholes of self-doubt while competing in the heptathlon that after the Rio Games in 2016 – where poor shot put and javelin performances cost her a medal – she wondered whether she should just stick to the long jump or high jump.
Written by Sean Ingle in Doha
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/oct/04/cried-enough-katarina-johnson-thompson-injuries-heartbreak-athletics-gold under the title “‘I’ve cried enough to last me a career’: how adversity drove Johnson-Thompson to gold”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
