After winning in the Diamond League meetings in Doha (1:43.87) and New York, Rudisha started feeling ‘a small problem in the knee’ and soon, his torrid ordeal begun to unfold.
“I continued with my training with physiotherapy but I realised the problem was becoming bigger. I had to stop and I told my coach and manager in Oregon where we had travelled for the Pre Fontaine Classic.
“There was a lot of pressure to compete and I had to tell them no! The way I was feeling in the knee, it was not a small problem. If I continued training and competition, we would have caused more damage,” he narrated.
An MRI scan upon to return confirmed a bone bruise in the knee was causing the pain and after travelling to Germany, Rudisha was advised to head for rehabilitation for a month to strengthen the knee and ligaments around it.
“The problem was still not improving and I had to come back to Kenya to give more time and later in October, I went back to Germany where they did a key hole surgery and after another two month rehabilitation in January and February, that is when I started training,” Rudisha told.
Relief on return
The Olympics champion admits he has had a short time to train for the season since his preparations begin in March but is relived the knee problem “is getting out of the way.”
He informed of the huge psychological toll the injury took on him.
“That is my field of work and most of the time; I have dedicated my self to training and to be in camp and to be out there without doing proper training is very difficult.
“It puts you in a very difficult position since you are hanging somewhere there and you don’t know exactly when this problem will get out of your way. You have to be optimistic that it could go away next week. You must be strong to stay encouraged and some of the athletes find it difficult to handle this situation.”
Rudisha said staying with the right people and especially family encouraged him alongside his coach, Bro Colm O’Connell to maintain focus and optimism.
“I’m used to training out there, running fast and pushing on the road. In the gym, you are touching machines and staying there for up to four hours and I’m not used to that although it was important for rehabilitation,” the two-time African champion explained.
“I’m very happy first just to be back and to compete with other athletes at a professional level, to win races and run well. This year my focus will be my appearance in the races.