Kim Mickle is attended to by medical staff after dislocating her shoulder in the women’s javelin at the Rio Games.
AUSTRALIAN javelin athlete Kim Mickle threw only three times prior to the Olympic Games after reconstructive surgery but says she has no regrets about pushing herself so hard in Rio she literally threw her shoulder out of its socket.
Mickle left the field in agony on Wednesday when, pushing for a spot in the final with her last qualifying throw, the 31-year-old dislocated her right shoulder.
It was the same shoulder Mickle had fully reconstructed only 11 months earlier but the Perth athlete said she’d rehabbed it so well the joint was “as strong as an ox”.
Kim Mickle in action for Australia at the Rio Olympics.Source:Getty Images
“We did all the strength tests and it was actually in really good shape,” Mickle said.
“You just can’t replicate a javelin throw, especially the intensity you put in at an Olympic Games.
“I always said I was going to give it 110 per cent. Leading in I proved the fitness, I had the scans, the shoulder was in great shape.
“I threw at 100 per cent before I left but then everyone knows at the Olympic Games, that’s when you throw 110 per cent.”
Asked how many throws she had done in training prior to the Games, Mickle said: “I had three full run-up training throws.”
“There were two comp-style throws and then one in Florida (at a training camp),” Mickle continued.
“I threw a 58 and a 60 back in Perth and then one full throw in Florida where we had our head coach and all the doctors and stuff there, and they were really impressed with how it was all going. I threw it nice and hard and the jav flight was amazing.”
Head coach of Australia’s athletic team Craig Hilliard denied on Wednesday that Mickle was not ready for competition, and that she’d been passed medically fit.
Mickle said she’d planned to throw within herself to save her strength but launch one long enough to make the final. When she realised she needed to throw big on her third attempt to qualify for the final, Mickle gave it everything and her shoulder gave way.
Mickle took to Instagram to post a photo of her X-rayed shoulder.Source:Instagram
“Once the third throw came and I knew I had to give it a crack, it unravelled from there. There are no regrets. I would do it over again,” Mickle said.
“There was certainly no way I was going to go out there and not give my best.
“It’s like rolling your ankle, once you do it once in your life you are probably doomed for the rest of your life to be a bit susceptible to it.”
Mickle said she had no problem with being left on the track after popping her shoulder but she described as “horrible” the three-hour wait for the joint to eventually be relocated under anaethestic.
Mickle is due to head home and meet her surgeon to assess whether she needs an operation.
She has no plans to retire, however, and is keen to push on towards the world championship and Commonnwealth Games.
Originally published as ‘No regrets, I’d do it over again’