Ciara Mageean: Irish athlete ‘very motivated’ to compete in 2028 LA Olympics
Magion’s forced withdrawal is the latest in a series of heartbreaking events at the Olympics for the athlete from the Northern Irish town of Portaferry.
The County Down woman narrowly missed out on the final of the event in 2016 and a calf injury a week before the postponed Tokyo Olympics preliminaries saw her dropped at the first call.
This year she won the 1500m at the European Championships in Rome in June but struggled in Diamond League events in Monaco and Paris in preparation for the Olympics.
“I’ve been dealing with ankle issues for years, it’s nothing new to me,” Magion explained.
“I have been dealing with pain in my right ankle for the past eight years, ranging from mild discomfort when doing daily activities to actually not being able to run and sitting on the stairs wondering if I could continue and if I needed to quit the sport.
“It’s been about micromanaging around my ankle and the summer went really well and the European title was obviously phenomenal and I’m delighted to finally get the gold medal.”
Preparations for the Olympics then progressed until persistent pain in her ankle after two weeks of training before the Games led to the difficult decision to withdraw from Paris 2024.
“I had two injections in different parts of my ankle to see if that would relieve the pain and unfortunately it didn’t, which resulted in me having to make a decision the day before I was due to start my third Olympics. Gotta withdraw
“It was absolutely heartbreaking and devastating to have to make this decision. The fact that I didn’t know I was going to be able to get through the game was the main factor. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it myself and the justice was out there.”
