- Michelle Jenneke has revealed that she tore her hamstring
- The injury occurred when she fell twice in the women’s hurdles heats.
- But she struggled to compete in the play-off on Thursday.
The hurdler who fell twice during the 100m hurdles qualifying round at the Olympics has established herself as one of Australia’s bravest athletes.
Michelle Jenneke had a race that every athlete dreads in the third round on Wednesday. After making a good start at the first two hurdles, she entered the third on her right foot.
She lost her balance immediately after hitting the obstacle and was thrown forward, landing heavily on her left side.
Jenneke quickly stood up and attempted to overcome the next obstacle, in the corridor lane to her right.
However, there was almost a second disaster as he missed the pace needed for the hurdle and kicked it down, but was able to stay on his feet and continue the race.
The 31-year-old limped across the finish line and in doing so secured her place in the repechage round on Thursday, but has now revealed she stood in the starting blocks with a torn hamstring.
As expected, the Australian finished last again, thus ending her Olympic career.
But she was in her usual good spirits after the race, insisting she is happy to have finished her campaign on her own terms.
Michelle Jenneke has shown why she is still a champion at the Olympic Games
The Australian hurdler had a disastrous series in the hurdles, falling twice.
“Honestly, the first thing I feel is very proud of myself,” Jenneke said.
“…Today I ran with one less tendon than usual and obviously that was quite difficult, but… I said to the doctor: ‘Can I continue running?’.
‘I didn’t want my Olympic campaign to end the way it did yesterday and I really just wanted to give it my all today.
‘I knew that getting to that semi-final and running under 13 seconds without pulling a hamstring is probably pretty impossible, but I wanted to prove to myself and the rest of Australia that I have guts and I’m not going to give up easily.
“The general consensus was that it was a complete tear, so I couldn’t make it worse, so as long as I could continue to run hurdles in a way that didn’t endanger other parts of my body, if I wanted to compete, I had the green light to do so.”
He tore his hamstring but still returned to competition on Thursday.
Jenneke added that the medical staff gave her the all-clear to compete on Thursday.
“Everyone was very happy with me for running today,” the two-time Olympian added.
‘It’s the Olympics and you do everything you can to be on the starting line.
“We knew he wasn’t going to be fast, and this race was about showing what it takes to get back up.”