Race Day 3 - Laser report
Written by RYA | 31 July 2012
Wounded Goodison vows to keep fighting
An emotional Paul Goodison paid tribute to the British team physios and vowed to keep fighting after revealing a back injury was hampering the defence of his Olympic Laser class title.
Goodison sits in 12th overall at the end of his second day of racing, picking up a 16th and a heroic second place to improve on his overnight position of 17th. But the 2009 World Champion was clearly in a lot of pain when he came off the water at Weymouth and Portland today (Tuesday 31 July).
He said: “I put my back out at the beginning of the second race yesterday so I’m in quite a lot of pain. Today I struggled in the first race then I had a couple of tablets and pushed through the second. Luckily the breeze dropped off a little bit so there wasn’t so much pressure on my body. But it’s really difficult to focus on the right stuff when you’re hurting. It’s hard to make decisions when your mind is elsewhere.
“The physios did an amazing job at putting me back together last night and we are straight away [after the racing] to do the recovery and let the physios work their magic again tonight. I hoped it would be quick fix and go away but unfortunately not. I look forward to the rest days so we can have a bit of time to get over it.”
Goodison suffered a similar fate as day one in the opening race today, getting bunched in the middle of the fleet, unable to find clean air and eventually crossing the line in 16th.
But after impressively breaking clear of the start line in race two, Goodison showed his undoubted class by consolidating second place from mark three.
The 34-year-old admitted he was naturally concerned about his position in the regatta but insisted that he still had reason to be positive.
He added: “Last night I could hardly bend down and the physios did an amazing job to get me out there on the water today. I’m more worried that my body is in a lot of trouble and until that’s fixed you can’t fire on all cylinders. But you only get one chance at this every four years and you’ve got to do whatever it takes.”
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