Irish Athletics News...Derval O'Rourke injured?

Derval O'Rourke...Injured or not?........Derval O'Rourke was supposed to have taken part in the 100m hurdles at the Senior Track and Field Championships in the Morton Stadium in Santry last weekend. Having won the title nine times already, she had to pull out due to an injury concern with her back.

On Monday morning, there was a piece in the Irish Time written by Ian O'Riordan with the following headline.... O'Rourke injury casts major doubt over Olympic participation

The article continued....."Instead of winning a 10th national title in the sprint hurdles O’Rourke never made it out of the warm-up area, her sudden withdrawal due to a back injury now casting a major doubt over her participation in London later this month. For O’Rourke these championships were planned as one of the final, crucial test runs before London, and for things to go crashing so close to the Olympics can’t possibly auger well. 

She was actually a little too distraught to assess the situation herself, leaving her coach, Sean Cahill, to put words on the indescribable. “Derval actually raced twice, in Loughborough, on Saturday, and things went fine, no problems,” said Cahill, somewhat puzzled by the nature of her injury, but visibly concerned about the potential consequences. “Okay she’d two brutal starts, but ran 13:27, and 13:20, and flew back late last night, everything fine, no sign of any injuries whatsoever. She came out here, really looking forward to racing, and after 42 minutes of her 45-minute warm-up, she was just about to go over one last hurdle, flat out, and suddenly her back went into spasm.”

At 31 O’Rourke has taken every precaution to ensure preparations for London remain a healthy balancing act between pushing harder than ever and staying injury free: to miss any period of training at this stage, whatever about missing the last few races, could prove fatal to her chances of impacting on London as planned, and with that might yield the question of whether to even go there.

Coming from one of the main Irish newspapers, this story would have got a wide coverage especially with the general public who may not follow athletics too closely.

Contrast the above with what was written by Derval O'Rourke on her own blog...
I got home last night and felt stiff and tired after two races on a cold, rainy day in Loughborough. When I warmed up today I just wasn't feeling great. I was actually moving pretty fast but was stiff in a few places. This made me a little worried especially as my achilles and groin were both stiff. Sean was with me and decided if I was stiff running then it would be worse hurdling so off I went to see the physio. Paul is the physio and he has seen me many, many times. He had a good look and did loads of work (basically beat the crap out of me!!!). He reckons that my back had gotten quite tight, maybe from racing and a couple of hours later getting on a flight.

The plan is to take some anti-inflammatories, have a few ice baths and let everything settle. After I saw the physio I was feeling quite sad and upset at not running, I really do like to run nationals. It's no major drama and I have a physio check up in the morning. The plan is to race next Saturday.

On Tuesday, the Irish Independent had the following piece titled...O'Rourke injury not as bad as feared.....Derval O'Rourke's back injury should not stop her going to the London Olympics, but it has left her facing a race against time to be fully race-sharp.

Serious fears about the Leevale star's Olympic participation were raised when the golden girl of Irish athletics had to pull out of the national championships last Sunday with a sudden back spasm. Her coach Sean Cahill was more upbeat yesterday but admitted that it was still a "wait-and-see situation" and will cost her some valuable competition experience ahead of the Games. O'Rourke had planned to race in France tonight and was expected to get in several more sharpening races in the coming weeks. But she needed two hours of physiotherapy and acupuncture, yesterday (Monday) and it remains to be seen when she can return to training. "It's not as bad as we first feared, she already had more mobility today," Cahill said. "The good thing is that the medical people are convinced it is neurological and not muscular and will therefore respond quickly to treatment. "But the real test now is how long it will be before she is back running and sprinting full out on it."

Obviously not a good situation to be in so close to the Olympics.