They say that when you’re overwhelmed with sadness or anger you should write your thoughts down, so here goes…
The last 10 years of competing has seen me show so much gratitude for every single competition that I’ve finished injury-free from because I understand the extreme degree to which we push our bodies as athletes. But unfortunately for me, no amount of gratefulness could stop what happened to me last night at my opening Samsung Diamond League competition of the season. My second attempt at 2.24m (7 ft 4.2 in) swiftly concluded with me crashing into the high jump bed, lying face down with my hands clutching my knee in agony. A ruler aggressively slapping the top of a table is the best description I have for the loud sound that came from what was a complete rupture of my patella tendon. I was in pieces in more ways that one. I would be over-exaggerating if I said that my whole life flashed in front of me but I definitely saw the last 3/4 months of gruesome training that I sacrificed so much for. The injury has so far devastated my world and has overshadowed these sacrifices, and the hard work that I’ve put into training over the last several weeks especially.
It had taken sub-standard performances during the 2013 indoor season for me to recover from the disappointment of not being able to complete my London 2012 Olympics dream, but it helped me to find a renewed level of motivation and drive in training for the 2013 outdoor season. With my coach as my witness, I can truly say that I trained harder than I have ever trained in my life for this outdoor season, and with excellent results. The last step in the process was to transfer this into competition and execute what I had planned to be my most successful season. However, everyone knows the saying about the ‘best laid plans’. No matter how well you plan, something can always go wrong.
I’m extremely upset and shocked to know that I wont be having a season this year due to such a painful and traumatic experience, and right now it doesn’t help that the moment of the injury keeps replaying over and over in my head. I can only hope that the emotional wound that I’m feeling doesn’t have long-lasting effects on me and that I can get back to thinking positively again.
As far as the future is concerned, my thoughts are still quite blurry. I know that I can come back from this if I really want to but I’m quite apprehensive about the amount of mental strength that it will take to get back to such a high level of performance. Age is of course another factor but I’ve always been considered a late developer in my sport so I take comfort in knowing that I have become faster, stronger, and jumped higher at the later end of my career. Whether that says that I still have more in me will remain to be seen. My wish now is to have a successful surgical operation followed by a good response to what will be a long-term rehabilitation programme. I’m being looked after at Aspetar, part of Aspire and a globally renowned sports medicine hospital here in Doha, Qatar – so my knee appears to be in good hands. As I type, the doctors and my surgeon are discussing the best approach and technique to use in order to achieve the best results.
Many thanks to EVERYONE that has reached out to me since last night and up until now. Your support is helping. I will be putting progress updates on my website/Facebook from time to time.
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Get well soon coach, Thank you for your support throughout and you are a wonderfull coach and we miss you.
All the best. We really hope that this will not affect your future and are waiting to see your return.
from 8r
HI SAMSON!! HOW YOU FEELING?? EVERYONE AT SARAH BONNELL IS JUST SO SHOCKED AND UPSET AT WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU. WE’RE ALL MISSING YOU AND WE KNOW THAT YOU HAVE IT IN YOU TO FIGHT AND BECOME BETTER. YOU’RE AN AMAZING COACH AND WITHOUT YOU NONE OF THE ATHLETICS TEAM WOULD’VE DISCOVERED THEIR TALENTS. SO IF ANY OF US DO GO ON TO BECOME FAMOUS ATHLETES, REMEMEBER IT WAS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOUR KIND HEART. WE’RE ALL RELYING ON YOU TO COME BACK AND TRAIN US WHEN YOUR BETTER, WE’RE NOT THAT EASY TO GET RID OF!! 🙂 YOU’VE ALWAYS HELPED US AND SUPPORTED US AND WE HAVE LEARNT SO MUCH FROM YOU IN JUST ONE YEAR!!
WISH US LUCK ON THE COMPETITION ON FRIDAY. WE HOPE WE ALL DO YOU PROUD!!
GET WELL SOON,
AAMENA ISMAIL ( 100M SPRINTER, JUST IN CASE YOU’VE FORGOTTNE ME!)
P.S: THE EMAIL ABOVE ISN’T MINE, MY ACCOUNT IS A BIT FUNNY AND WEIRD. YOU CAN USE THAT EMAIL TO REPLY THOUGH!! 🙂
coach samson i am soo sorry hope everything goes well, good luck for the operation
Dear Coach Samson,
Hello, it’s Sophia&Tamika. We just wanted to say we managed to watch some of your jumping on youtube (we couldn’t find it on BBC red button)
and you was amazing! We miss you and we hope you recover soon. You’re an amazing coach and high jumper. We’re still going to go to the
competition this Friday so hopefully we can let you know how it goes. Best wishes!
Thanks to all of you guys for your nice messages. I’m glad to hear that all of you are still looking forward to your competition but I’m upset that I can’t be there. Just make sure you all have fun and support each other. I’m confident that we will perform well. Wish everyone luck for me and I’ll see you guys once I get better. Coach.
we are going to win that competition juss 4 u #guess who is it
Hi Samson,
Hope your doing well .. Just wanted to let you know that your an amazing coach and thank you very much for all the help and support you’ve given us all. i’m really upset to hear about what has happened and pray that you get better quickly! The competition on Friday went really well and everyone did brilliantly, fingers crossed we get through to the next round!
Get Well Soon Coach!! 🙂
– Mohbuba Sedeqi
#StayStrong
hi samson- i just wanted to say get well soon , and to say that you are an amazing coach – we all wish you the best.
thank you for all that you have done
we all miss you
get well son
we’ll see you once you get better
bye
_nora_
get well soon samason- we all miss you-
HI SAMSON- I DONT KNOW IF MY OTHER MESSAGES CAME – BUT I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT EVERYONE MISSES YOU EVER SO MUCH AND WE ALL HOPE FOR THE BEST- WHAT EVER THE OUTCOME- JUST NOTE THAT YOU ARE THE BEST COACH EVER AND WE APPRECIATE FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR US.
THANK YOU
GET WELL SOON
SEE YOU SOON
NORA