It will, admits Kathleen Dawson, have been straightforward to hold up her goggles after Tokyo 2020.
At these Olympic Video games she was swimming in fixed ache attributable to a severe again damage however regardless of this, grew to become Olympic champion, setting a world report within the course of.
That Olympic gold medal, as a part of the 4x100m blended relay workforce, was the fruits of actually years of blood, sweat and tears and represented the achievement of a lifelong dream.
And when you think about the truth that she had achieved all she’d ever strived for regardless of her damage points, it’s hardly shocking that retirement critically crossed her thoughts.
However strolling away from the game she’d devoted her life to was little greater than a fleeting thought for Dawson and regardless of the obstacles she knew lay forward of her by way of regaining health, she shortly determined she wasn’t prepared to show her again on swimming simply but.
“After the Tokyo Olympics, with how I used to be feeling and figuring out I had a gold medal and a world report, the considered calling it a day was positively there,” the 26-year-old from Kirkcaldy says.
“However being the aggressive athlete that I’m, I knew that wasn’t what I needed to do – I knew that I wasn’t completed within the sport.
So there was all the time motivation after Tokyo as a result of Paris was solely three years away, and I feel the very fact it was three years reasonably than 4 helped loads.”
For fairly a while within the aftermath of Tokyo 2020, it regarded, to outsiders anyway, considerably unlikely that Dawson would ever regain her standing as one of many best backstrokers on the earth.
She was out of the water for months and on returning in 2022, was nicely in need of the requirements she’d set herself the earlier yr.
Slowly however absolutely, nevertheless, Dawson started to really feel her type creep again and with it, her occasions started to get sooner and sooner.
It was, she says, nearly precisely a yr in the past that an actual perception that she may return to the British workforce started engulfing her and the Scot’s self-confidence has been solely vindicated this week along with her inclusion within the 33-strong GB swimming workforce that may head to the Paris Olympics this summer season and which additionally contains her fellow Scots, Duncan Scott, Katie Shanahan, Keanna MacInnes and Lucy Hope.
Kathleen Dawson (L) is considered one of 5 Scots in Crew GB’s swimming squad for Paris 2024. The others, from L-R are Katie Shanahan, Duncan Scott, Lucy Hope and Keanna MacInnes (Picture: Getty)
And regardless of her profession having been so considerably disrupted by this again damage, which was a bulging disk which brought about sciatica in each her legs, Dawson has a surprisingly constructive perspective about all the things she’s endured and believes that, having come out the opposite aspect, she’s truly all the higher for having overcome her struggles.
“I’m unbelievably happy with myself to be again at this level. It’s been an emotional, turbulent journey over the previous few years,” she says.
“Bodily, I really feel wonderful now – 100%. I didn’t anticipate to ever be pain-free so it’s such a bonus.
“I can’t say that, total, it’s been a foul expertise for me. It’s generally good to have sabbaticals in your profession and I positively am higher off for what’s occurred.”
Dawson admits that she doesn’t reminisce on her success in Tokyo as a lot as she maybe ought to. It’s a typical trait inside athletes to relentlessly look ahead reasonably than mirror on what’s already taken place though she does acknowledge that, often, she permits herself to look again with a purpose to remind herself of simply how a lot she desires to return to the Olympic podium.
What’s significantly difficult for Dawson to come back to phrases with, nevertheless, is that regardless of being pain-free now, she stays a way off the occasions she was swimming in Tokyo three years in the past.
However with three months remaining till the Opening Ceremony of Paris 2024, there stays sufficient time for Dawson to step up one more stage from that which she displayed on the British Championships earlier this month.
It will be straightforward to imagine that having already fulfilled her lifelong dream of changing into Olympic champion, Dawson heads to Paris devoid of private objectives however in reality, this couldn’t be farther from the reality.
“I don’t take into consideration Tokyo as a lot as I ought to however I positively wish to be in that place, on the rostrum, once more,” she says.
“It’s an odd one as a result of though I had bodily points forward of Tokyo, I used to be swimming extremely nicely whereas now, I’m not in ache however by way of the world stage, I’m swimming fairly averagely. I do really feel like I’m on that ladder again up, although, and so in Paris, I simply must handle my expectations.
“I do really feel that, with the potential I’ve, I can return to that stage so it’s about the place I can get again to within the subsequent three months.
“When it comes to private objectives, I wish to swim 57 seconds within the 100m backstroke though I don’t know if that’s a chance for the Video games this summer season as a result of I clearly have to have a look at the place I’ve come from. And I’d like to be part of the medley relay once more in Paris.”