21st August 2008

Tasha Danvers reveals how her nightmare season full of injury and illness has turned into a dream come true following her 400m hurdle bronze.
 
"At the start of the season training was going absolutely brilliantly, we were doing a lot of hill work, adding in a lot of things I’d never been able to do, and then I had a set back in May with an Achilles problem which meant I couldn’t run even 50m."
 
"At that point I broke down, I really got stressed out, and I called UK Athletics and said I really need to get back to London to the UK doctors because I couldn’t get it fixed."
 
"I got back to London, and within a week and a half they fixed it. First session back? I tore my hamstring. It was just thing after thing after thing. I then went to Annecy for the European Cup, they said it should be fine, I got to 150m to go and my body just could not respond."
 
"I thought ok, this is not normal, but they said don’t worry, it could be lack of training, you need to just get back into training. I got back out there and ran at the Trials. I got beat, I ran 57 seconds, and the same thing happened at 150m, my body felt like it was shutting down on me."
 
"I’m a 400m hurdler, I know what it feels like to get fatigue at 150m, but this was different – completely different."
 
"So I went and had a blood test, and when I went to get the results the doctor looked at me and said "we’re going to need to revive you!"  The blood counts range between 3.5 and 10 with 3.5 being the lowest, I registered a 3.6, so we knew that was the reason why I was running so badly – I was suffering with some sort of virus."
 
"I only found out at the trials and I was doubtful as to how quickly viruses get out you system, I had no idea, I just had to trust the doctors."
 
"No-one wants to miss an Olympics, when I heard about Jana Rawlinson, I just really felt for her, I know what it’s like, I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to wear the Great Britain vest.
 
"I was glad to be picked for the team, because I knew it was very, very touch and go, I had the standard from last year but you just don’t know. Perri (Shakes Drayton) was running extremely well, and I was running extremely not well!"
 
"But I do run well at championships and that’s what I’ve been able to put together here, that’s the thing I know how to do."
 
"Running in championships and getting medals are two different things. This is my first stepping-stone to becoming a medallist as opposed to just being a finalist – and that means a lot."
 
"The UK doctors have been phenomenal, that is why as soon as my Achilles began to be overwhelming I just got the hell out of LA and came right back to London and it was sorted in less than two weeks."
 
"I had to just trust in my coach and my doctors, the UKA staff and, I tell you I could stand here and list for about an hour how many people it has taken to get me on this podium and I’m extremely thankful."