Trying to make sense of Dina Asher-Smith’s failure to make the women’s 100m final and then pulling out of the 200m is difficult for everyone. We listened to her emotional interview afterwards, in which she said that she had torn her hamstring only five weeks ago, but much of what we are hearing beyond that is speculation.
What she must do is let her disappointment take its course, acknowledge it and avoid playing it down. Then, in the off season, she has to switch her focus to next year. Instead of four years we are only three away from the next Olympics. That’s a bonus.
Dina came in with all the hype and attention so her failure will be hard to take, but what I do know is it is hard to run 11.05 seconds injured, so the assumption would be that she is simply unable to run at the level she would like to. The question is: did she pull out of the 200m, the event in which she is the world champion, through fear of exacerbating the injury or because she did not want to run if she is not at her best and cannot contend for a medal? If she runs in the relay, it would indicate that she is OK physically, because you wouldn’t put yourself up for that if there was a problem.
It may also be that she pulled out of the 200m because she is more susceptible to injury when running a bend. If she does run the relay, it will be interesting to see which leg she does. But this is all speculation.
I know from experience how difficult it must be for her. When you are struggling with injuries you hope for the best, you go to the doctor and, if there is any chance you can get back, you give it everything you can.
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As an athlete you are training every day, pushing to the absolute limit, knowing that the hard work is going to prepare you and make you ready to perform at your best. Then, all of a sudden, you are hit with an injury and time is not on your side, so you try to put positive energy into your rehabilitation.
Every day you are thinking that your rivals are passing you. You are now doing a fraction of the speed work you know you need to be doing. Mentally, that is a difficult process. It’s a case of hoping for the best and trying to look for as many positives as you can. So you tell yourself that you’re in good shape and all you need to do is not lose that, while hoping that the problem gets better throughout the qualifying rounds. But what is a killer is knowing that you have not pushed your hamstring to the limit for several weeks. Is it going to hold? You could also be destroying any chance of making the Olympics.
The other thing to consider is that it hurts like hell. Overriding all of that is the nagging thought that you could even be jeopardising your career; there have been plenty of athletes who hurt themselves so badly that they were never able to fully recover.
In 1993 I strained my hamstring training for the United States Championships and that made my decision to run only the 400m that year. I ended up winning the world title. Then, in 1997, I pulled a muscle early in the season. I lost my first 400m because I came back too early.
I went into the World Championships injured and with no tune-up races. I did not know what was going to happen. The first round felt pretty good and the second round felt decent, but I was the slowest qualifier for the final.
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With 150m to go in that final, I felt my hamstring seize up and thought it was gone. I started to slow and let go, but suddenly I was able to start running again. That was a case where, even in the race, I didn’t know if it was going to hold up. I ended up winning and the injury problem meant it was one of the races I am most proud of. Finally, in 2000, I pulled my hamstring again at the Olympic trials and spent all my time before Sydney doing rehab work. My experience of running the rounds got me through and I was able to win the final.
Psychologically, it can be hard when a big championship passes you by, but Dina is clearly the best in Britain so making teams is not that difficult. That’s a huge relief. For US athletes it’s hard to get selected. Dina knows that she will get on those teams.
Dina’s issues have epitomised what has been an interesting Olympics. The quality has been there and the competition great, but it does have a strange feeling about it with some favourites not performing. That is probably down to how odd the year has been, the different protocols athletes have faced, the restrictions in Japan and the humidity.
By and large, though, it is living up to typical levels of drama and hype. I’m enjoying these Games hugely.
