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Reuters

Australia’s Olympic sprint hurdles champion Sally Pearson said she was ‘gutted’ after a hamstring tendon tear she picked up in training forced her to pull out of the Rio de Janeiro Games on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old, who won gold in the 100 metres hurdles at the London Olympics, had battled back after being sidelined for a year by a shattered wrist only to suffer the hamstring injury training at her base on the Gold Coast.
“It’s a hard time for me at the moment. I’m disappointed and I’m gutted,” Pearson told Australia’s Nine Network on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, it is the biggest sporting event in the world that I am going to be missing out on and I can’t be a part of. It’s devastating that I can’t be at Rio as the Olympic champ.”
Pearson’s hopes of defending her title at the Olympics Games had looked slim after a fall at the Golden Gala meeting in Rome last year shattered her wrist so badly, she feared her left forearm might need to be amputated.


The 2011 world champion, who also won silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, missed the back end of the 2015 season as a result of the fall and only returned to racing in Europe early this month.
Her results in three races in Birmingham, France and Oslo were disappointing, however, and she returned for a period of intense training in the warmer climes of her hometown on the Queensland coast.


She said upon her return home that she had “left nothing in the tank” but said on Wednesday she was finally starting to feel physically better before her hopes were crushed earlier this week.
“My body finally was starting to feel normal again, it was starting to feel the speed, the strength... it was all coming together,” she said.
“Unfortunately on Monday, I went over the hurdles and felt two squeezes in my hamstring and my heart sank.


“I thought it was just a hamstring tear and it would probably take me a couple of weeks and I’d be all right. But the scans showed it was a tendon tear and any tendon takes a long time to recover.”
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.
“The risk of going to compete at the Olympics could do major damage to my hamstring,” she said. “And there would be no chance of me competing at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in a couple of years time.”


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I’m gutted: Australian hurdles champion Sally Pearson pulls out of Olympic Games due to injury

Australian athlete Sally Pearson. Photos: EPA

epa05397095 (FILE) A file picture dated 06 August 2012 shows Sally Pearson of Australia clearing a hurdle in the heats for the women's 100m Hurdles at the London 2012 Olympic Games Athletics, Track and Field events at the Olympic Stadium, in London, Britain. According to media reports on 29 June 2016, Australian Olympic champion hurdler Sally Pearson has torn her hamstring during training on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Pearson will reportedly be unable to defend her 100m hurdles in the Rio 2016 Olympics, media added. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL l

Australian hurdles champion Sally Pearson withdraws from Rio Olympics Games due to injury - reports

Sally Pearson of Australia. Photo: Reuters

epa05397094 A picture made available on 29 June 2016 shows Australian athlete Sally Pearson posing for a photograph during the unveiling of the Australian Olympic team competition uniform in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 19 April 2016. According to media reports on 29 June 2016, Australian Olympic champion hurdler Sally Pearson has torn her hamstring during training on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Pearson will reportedly be unable to defend her 100m hurdles in the Rio 2016 Olympics, media added. EPA/DEAN LEWINS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY

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The 29-year-old won gold in the 100 metres hurdles in London four years ago and had only just returned from shattering her wrist
