Ranomi Kromowidjojo won three gold medals between the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games but failed to get onto the podium in Rio. We know now that she was dealing with a debilitating back injury suffered in training less than a month before the meet that hampered her preparation and likely her performance.
According to a report in NOS, Kromowidjojo threw out her back during a pre-Games camp in London on July 12. In the ensuing days, she could hardly walk, let alone perform the explosive training required to compete in her specialty sprint free events. She could not dive off the blocks until a few days before the Olympics began, and she never resumed weight training after the incident.
With all that in mind, she performed admirably in Rio. She ended up fifth in the 100 free in 53.08 and sixth in the 50 free in 24.18, less than a tenth away from the medals on both occasions. She also anchored the Dutch 400 free relay in 52.20 but could not catch Canada for the bronze medal.
Kromowidjojo made a conscious decision to not reveal the full extent of the injury at the time.
“We did not want there to be doing, which also goes against you,” Kromowidjojo said.“If everyone is doing it, as media ask. You can not change anything anyway. And I’d argue it’s not an excuse. But the problem was there.”
Kromowidjojo, 26, also noted that she has yet to make a decision about continuing another four years until Tokyo, but she has no immediate plans to stop swimming. As long as she does continue, she wants to continue swimming under the guidance of coach Patrick Pearson.
Read more from NOS (in Dutch) here.
I wished SW would have stated more than “threw her back out” as to how she was injured. Major back injuries usually include ruptured discs, fractures or or nerve impingement.
It doesn’t matter what type of back injury, she was hurt!