K. johnson olympic games tokyo 20205/16/2023 "If I did a bad throw I would wonder what the commentators were saying - I bet they are ripping into me," she says. A quad tear and knee surgery fuelled her demons and self-doubt and she finished sixth. It was a daily reminder to spur herself to better.Ī year later, though, she arrived at the Olympics in Rio mentally and physically spent. After that disappointment, she changed her screensaver to a shot of her foot straying beyond the take-off board. I just got thrown into the deep end and I think 20 in particular were those two years where I just couldn't handle it."Īt the World Championships in Beijing in 2015, she fouled on each of her three long jumps, wrecking any hope of medal. "I don't think I had those transitional years. I thought I had to step in to fill those shoes," remembers Johnson-Thompson. "With Jess taking time out to have her first child, everyone was still watching the event but the star wasn't there. The pace of progress slowed to nearer normal. I was absolutely loving life there was zero expectation."Īrchive: Katarina Johnson-Thompson's mum Tracey writes her a letter before Rio 2016 "I was actually shaking as I was so excited. "I was used to competing with 40 people and there were 80,000 people screaming for anyone in Team GB. "I was one of the first athletes on the track - the heptathlon was on the first day," Johnson-Thompson tells BBC Sport. Johnson-Thompson's path was set.Īlthough Katarina and Tracey didn't realise it then, that bus ride was only the beginning of the journey.Īged 13 she took a National Express coach down to Stoke for her first age-grade national championship.īy 19, she was riding a wave of national emotion instead, appearing as Jessica Ennis-Hill's heir apparent at London 2012. When she did and proved she could sprint as well as she could leap, a coach mentioned an event that combined them all. It seemed a hassle for only an hour.īut if Katarina stuck around for the running session that followed the high jump, maybe it was worth the trip after all. Not a lot longer than it took to get there. Her mother Tracey, who would have preferred her daughter to dance, sat reluctantly alongside her, riding routes through south Liverpool's suburbs. Her talent was obvious - tall and agile, she had broken a 29-year-old school record at her first attempt.
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