- Ash Moloney was forced to withdraw from the decathlon due to injury
- Ash’s mother shared her devastation as she watched it all unfold.
- Alyson Moloney said she was heartbroken for her son
The mother of Australian decathlete Ash Moloney took to social media to share her devastation after seeing her son withdraw from the Olympic event due to injury.
Alyson Moloney watched from the stands in Paris as her son, a bronze medallist at the Tokyo Olympics, was forced to withdraw after three disciplines of the Olympic decathlon due to an adductor injury.
Moloney was in 19th place after the first three rounds on Friday: the 100 meters, the long jump and the shot put.
The 24-year-old has had a terrible run of injuries and to see it all end the way it did was “heartbreaking” for his mother, who was also unhappy with the circumstances surrounding it.
“It’s 4am in Paris and I can’t sleep,” he wrote on Facebook.
“I am so heartbroken for my son. His first concern was for me and how much it would cost, but money can be replaced, he cannot. What is more heartbreaking is the press.
‘One person points out that he missed some falls and that’s what you do. It happens.
Ash Moloney forced to withdraw from Olympic decathlon
Moloney has had a shocking series of injuries in recent years.
‘It’s the athlete’s fault, not the chicken. They don’t know… (it’s two years of nonsense I can’t mention) and they don’t know that he trains 6 out of 7 days a week to absolute exhaustion, that he has cut back on all his events including the lead leg change in hurdles, and I’m absolutely sure they would have no idea that he came 4th at Gotzis and has won at the National Championships and Oceania Championships since then.
“Why spoil a good story? In closing, I wish all of our amazing athletes the best of luck, and especially our multi-event athletes.”
Ahead of the Games, Ash Moloney spoke about her changing relationship with her body.
“I was young and naive and thought I was bulletproof,” he said.
The reigning Olympic bronze medallist was forced to withdraw before the high jump began.
‘I now have a much more stable training environment and procedures that I follow every day.
‘Before it was just going harder, harder, harder, keep going until something broke and then just get up and do the same thing.
‘After Tokyo I was exhausted. I couldn’t walk properly because it was an all-or-nothing effort. Then I got to the World Indoor Championships (in 2022) and competed well, but I got hurt badly in the high jump.
“The knee I hurt in Tokyo got worse and I got a small tear in my kneecap. After that, the same thing happened to me over and over again.
‘That’s when I had five consecutive competitions where I had to withdraw because of my knee.’