Long jumper Sawyers to miss Paris
Great Britain long jumper Jazmin Sawyers has revealed she is out of this summer's Olympic Games after rupturing the Achilles tendon in her take-off leg.
Sawyers, 29, posted a video message on her Instagram account in which she confirmed that she has already undergone surgery and as a result, will not be in Paris.
She accompanied the video with a post which read: “For anyone that doesn't want to watch – I had an accident in training and suffered a full rupture of my right Achilles (my takeoff leg). I've had surgery to repair it and it was successful, so the journey to recover has started!
“It'll be a long road, but I'm ready to work hard, make a full recovery and resume my career. Obviously it's devastating to miss the Olympics this summer, but this is sport – there's always the risk that something like this happens, and up to this point I've been so lucky.
“I still have so many goals that I haven't yet achieved in this sport, and this is the biggest challenge I've faced so far in pursuit of those goals. But I still believe I can do it. It's going to take a few more years than I thought, but I can still get there!
“I'll be watching this summer as a fan, cheering on the team 'til I can join them again, and until that moment I'll be here sharing the rehab journey, thanks for being here.”
Sawyers was a Commonwealth Games silver medallist in 2014 and finished eighth at both the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She was not considered a realistic medal hope in Paris having failed to qualify for the long jump final at last summer's World Athletics Championships.