Valerie Adams has announced via her IAAF Online Diary that her recovery from knee and ankle surgery is ahead of schedule.
Adams begun suffering with a knee injury in late May/early June and had planned to her season short but on the advice of her medical team she had silicone injections to give her some temporary cushioning in her knee.
In late September 2013 she underwent surgery to repair damaged cartilage that had become weakened from overuse in her knee but also had an operation to chisel a piece of bone from the back of her ankle to correct a long standing issue.
“The knee injury forced me to alter a lot of training sessions, especially squats in the gym, and every time I crouched in the back of the circle I was in pain. Yet I was able to work through this and achieve my goals for the season. My pain threshold is very high, that’s how I’m wired and that is one reason I was able to survive the year” said the two-time Olympic champion.
It took just one week for the reigning Commonwealth champion to get back in the gym and she remains fully focused on the task at hand “I’m a person who loves to train. It is now just a case of being persistent and taking the recovery process one step at a time.”
Despite having to restrict her sessions to avoid aggravating her injuries, the 6ft4 New Zealander had a successful 2013 in which she secured her the world championship title, retained her Diamond League crown and stretched out her winning streak to 42 wins in a row.
“Looking back on the 2013 season, it was, obviously, another successful one for me” Adams wrote when reflecting on her season, “But the year was also physically and mentally a tough one. I struggled with a knee problem in the couple of months or so leading into the Moscow World Championships – the biggest competition of the year – I was probably at 90-95 per cent. I had to overcome various niggles to win gold, but I’m always a fearsome competitor and have enormous pride in competing for my nation.”
Victory at the Moscow World Championships ensured that her name will go down in history as one of the greatest athletes to grace our sport after it made her the first woman to win four consecutive individual titles in track and field. She is also one of only nine athletes to win world championships at the youth, junior and senior level alongside the likes of Usain Bolt, Yelena Isinbayeva, Kirani James and David Storl
Adams goes on to write “I am proud of my accomplishments this year and I’ve been listed as one of ten women’s candidates for the 2013 IAAF World Athlete of the Year award. I’ve been on the shortlist of three awards before, which is awesome.”
Watch her interview with Jody & Bayo at the Moscow World Championships here:
