SCOTTISH athletics star Eilish McColgan has revealed how a doctor told her she wouldn’t run again following a serious injury.
Speaking exclusively to The National on the 10 things that changed her life, Commonwealth gold medallist McColgan spoke of how she shattered one of the bones in her left foot during her first televised race back in 2011.
“It was raining slightly and I misstepped and when I landed I heard this massive pop in my foot”, she explained.
“I’d never ever broke a bone - even as a kid - but I knew straight away.”
The Diamond League event was being broadcast live on the BBC at the time and, despite the severity of her injury, McColgan continued running.
She continued: “I ran the last 600m with the foot shattered, qualified for the World Championships and ran a personal best.
“Everyone after the race was saying just to give me some ibuprofen and walk it off. The doctor at Ninewells said it looked like I’d been in a motorcycle accident.
“I underwent surgery and had five screws and a metal foot and the doctor said I wouldn’t run again.”
Since then, as well as winning Commonwealth gold last year, the now 32-year-old, has also smashed Paula Radcliffe’s British women’s 10,000m record at an event in California.
McColgan revealed that the doctor’s initial diagnosis meant she could have potentially only got back to a “hobby jog” – news which she said left her "devastated".
“Everything came tumbling down very quickly but they reshaped my foot, I started doing jogs on a little trampoline and built myself back up to make the Olympics. I wasn’t at the level I would have liked but the fact I made it was a breakthrough in itself,” she said.
The runner also revealed that she received a letter from the very same doctor who had written to say how proud he was of all her achievements since that injury.
McColgan explained: “He sort of apologised for breaking my dream before I got there. He wanted to ensure I made the right choices and did rehab properly.
“It was really nice to know he’d seen me and was proud of me getting back to that level. I think out of everything in my career, that injury genuinely did change everything.
“It was like I got a glimpse of elite athletics and then had it snatched away from me. I was just playing at it so I started looking after myself and respecting my body and the stress you’re putting it through.
“I wasn’t out partying and eating rubbish at four in the morning anymore.”
