Success over adversity

The regular readers of this column will know that I love to champion the accomplishments of those athletes overcoming adversity and succeeding despite serious injuries or illnesses.
 
The most obvious example of this is Lance Armstrong who used his battle against a virulent form of testicular cancer that spread to his brain and lungs to learn how to dig deep in the Tour de France and triumph a record seven consecutive times.
 
His book It’s Not About The Bike that documents this battle and his subsequent successes has been used by many as an inspiration to combat their own versions of the disease. Prevalent amongst those now is India’s livewire all-rounder, Yuvraj Singh, who has been receiving treatment in the US for lung cancer.

Step forward, or rather pedal forward, Joanna Rowsell, who has become the latest athlete to overcome physical and mental obstacles to reach the top and become an inspiration to others.

Rowsell first lost her hair aged 10 and struggled to fit in throughout her teenage years. Alopecia occurs when a person’s immune system attacks the hair follicles and causes the loss of patches of hair that can ultimately spread across the whole body.

Many sufferers find that this hair loss is temporary, although for Rowsell, she has found her hair returning, only to fall out again on three separate occasions. The unforgiving and unpredictable nature of the condition can be deeply stressful, although she admitted that this may have helped her to channel her determination into her cycling.

She is now reaping the rewards having topped the podium at the Olympic Velodrome (or ‘Pringle’ as it has become affectionately known) in the World Cup event that doubled as a test event for the summer spectacular.

The 23-year-old was part of the British Team Pursuit along with Dani King and Laura Trott that won gold in a world record time of three minutes 18.1 seconds to smash the earlier record and defeat a strong Canadian team in the process.

Rowsell followed up this victory with another gold in the Individual Pursuit, defeating Kiwi world champion Alison Shanks in the final, despite having not trained for the event.

Not that she is an overnight success. Rowsell claimed her first gold medal in the Junior Women’s National Individual Pursuit (2km) in 2005 and claimed senior world titles in 2008 and 2009.

What makes this special is that it is Olympic year with a home venue. However, perhaps more importantly, she is also becoming more comfortable with her condition, dispensing with her favoured brown wig while being pictured on the podium. Indeed, Rowsell now insists that she is partly grateful to have suffered from alopecia – as it may have meant that she found her way into cycling! I, for one, hope she sweeps the gold medal positions at London 2012 and becomes as successful as Armstrong.

At least Rowsell can now look forward and focus on the Olympic competition. Britain’s rhythmic gymnasts can only focus on an impending court case – against the British Olympic Association which has denied them a position at London 2012, despite being guaranteed a place as hosts.

The problems stem from an Olympic test event in January.  Prior to the competition, the British Gymnastics national body imposed a minimum standard, which the team achieved on the third and final day of competition. Unfortunately for the participants, the qualification level had to be achieved on each and every day of the competition, resulting in their omission from Team GB and, ultimately, the Olympics.

The gymnasts have now hired high-profile barrister, Michael Beloff QC, to defend their right to participate before the Sport Resolutions Panel. 

Beloff is familiar with the role, having previously represented the London 2012 bid-team itself, the Court of Arbitration at recent Games and the Greek running star, Kostas Kenteris, who failed to attend a drug test during his home Athens Olympics, claiming to have been involved in a motorcycle accident, only for a later investigation to find that the incident had been staged.

Team captain Rachel Smith has vowed to fight until the bitter end, although hopes for a quick resolution seem unlikely, despite the dispute causing deep divisions within the British gymnastics community.

Being a ‘poor relation’ (self-funded rather than sponsored) in the gymnastics world, friends and family argue that the hardline stance is simply depriving these hardworking athletes from a chance to represent their country at a home Olympics and the country of another medla opportunity.
 
Barring a catastrophic result at arbitration, expect the team to be wearing beaming grins! Apologies for the intended puns.