Double Olympic medalist Daria Shmeleva has always returned to emergency action, despite the most serious injuries.
Even after a terrible fall in New Zealand, in which the athlete broke six ribs and bruised a lung, she tried to recover as quickly as possible. But old and new injuries after the Olympics left her out of competitive activity for 10 months.
At the end of July, Shmeleva nevertheless returned to the start and told about this difficult period in her career.
– In November, I underwent an operation: for three years, I had pain in my hand. They removed the bone growth, all the vessels, tendons, ligaments went along it, so they got inflamed. It was painful for me to hold the steering wheel, and I’m a sprinter, I need to put all my strength into the steering wheel, into the pedals. I had to endure until the Olympics, then I had surgery.
On March 8, she made herself a “gift”: she tore the tendon of the quadriceps muscle in her right leg. The quadriceps femoris muscle is down three centimeters. They made it clear to me, as a child, that if I kept stretching that leg – playing sports or just jogging, I couldn’t even run to the bus – nothing good would come of it. They were asked to forget all activity for a month. They said, “For this period, you are an ordinary person, calm and not fast.”
– So you were forbidden to be Dasha Shmeleva?
– More or less like that. There was a possibility of having surgery. We had to see if it would grow together in a month, if the muscle hadn’t fixed, I would have to go for surgery. She refused the operation, decided to wait.
– Can you be calm and slow at all?
– I took this new installation for me for half a month. She cried, went to other doctors and tried to do something – to swing her arms, because you can’t force her legs.
Then, after talking with everyone – with the authorities, friends – I decided that it was time to recover really calmly without any rush. I just wrapped my leg in a bandage every day and walked like that. My leg was very itchy.
– And when the bandage was removed and the Russian Championship left, what were the feelings?
– After 10 months since the last big departure, all this is not easy. You just don’t know what you are capable of, what your opponents are capable of. And I want, and it’s scary and exciting – an internal swing. I had to reassure that part of Shmeleva, who is a perfectionist: “Dash, you’ve been training normally for a month and a half, you’ve recovered.”
I didn’t really start training normally until June 12th. Since March 8, I haven’t trained for a month, the next month – 30%, then – 40%… Purely an amateur who trains a little, focusing on sensations. It hurts – I stop training.
At the beginning of June, we arrived in Serpukhov – there is a base “Red Wings”. Previously, they often went to her, it was even believed that after Serpukhov there was always a medal. And then they decided to return after a two-year break: first there was a pandemic, then for a year everything was bought up by volleyball players.
The first week was very eventful, and from June 12, it continued. After all that, she came back to competition and, considering all the circumstances, did it for pretty good seconds. I was even pleasantly surprised. True, on contact types it is even more difficult. Plus, our youngsters have grown up – they don’t even let them get sick! (Laughs).
Do you pay more attention to your health now?
— I loved force majeure. No matter what happened, she rushed into battle, began. After the Olympics, I didn’t even expire. All of this is physically and mentally exhausting. But we realized that although you can push yourself for a noble goal, there is a limit to everything. You climb beyond the limits – morally you erase yourself in powder. In this scenario, you have just physically cracked. If you borrow from the body, you must return it.
Now I take better care of myself. Health needs to be approached wisely – years are not the same, brains need to be on. Previously young blood was saved, now not. Now I’m working step by step on a comeback and hopefully when the iron curtain goes up I’ll be in good shape.
– The fact that there is no competition at international level… How difficult is it for you?
“Shadowboxing, when you overcome yourself, is a story. But nothing will make you a real competitor in international competitions. This is especially true for contact sports – keirin, sprint.
Even though we have serious competition within the team, we all know each other in one way or another. When you have another opponent, less familiar, you need more experience, more attempts. Unfortunately, our young riders are growing up this season without such competition. Even if you are on the right path, even if you are the strongest, the competition in such events is very important. And the more different the opponents, the better. And so now we will ride against each other again.
It’s great that we’ve been given a schedule and we’ll get motivated with that, but we’re really looking forward to the day when we can look up to each other and show off.
Will we see you in Spartakiad? Did you manage to get out?
– Yes, I recovered three quarters of myself – I was selected for the team sprint and the keirin.
– Are you listening to the Olympic Games or are you not thinking about it yet?
“Of course I’m thinking about it. I’m preparing. And we’ll see if those Olympics come for us or not. Anyway, I’m doing what I love. It fuels my motivation even though I have Had quite a few health problems over the past two years.
Source : MatchTV
