Just back, won the silver for my category, had an accident at the end of my warm-up where I slipped with the bar at 35kg slamming into my left shin at speed. This was just two minutes before I started my first snatch attempt, so I give many thanks to the IWF medical team for the quick patch-up to get me to the plateau, and thanks to the contributions of Judy and Sandra for making sure I got there with two functioning legs. See Judy’s t-shirt below, it says it all as far as I am concerned!
[Leg update, one week later: Home doc said it was in need of some rest, but once the swelling went down, I could go back to training, which should be in next few days. Love my medical guys!]
Technique kind of went out the window at that point, as I was in pain and pissed off, but I stayed focused (with some help from my friends) and got all six lifts. Would have like to have done more, but given the situation, did a good day’s work. Additional help came from the Italian coaching staff for the last two clean and jerks (“brain, brain, brain…” thanks, Walter!) My helping friends from Canada, Great Britain, Finland and Italy shared some Belgian chocolates afterwards for their contributions to the ‘Keep Alea going’ activity.
This competition had problems with the actual competition logistics. The quality of refereeing was inconsistent, the warm-up area far too crowded and there were issues both with transport and communications to the athletes.
On the bright side, met some really cool people from Tahiti and Mongolia, and saw a bit of Ukraine. And yes, below, that is a picture of my left leg later that evening, looks even worse now. Yuck.
Selected photos are below. The video can be found at: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/25450122
