Sanya Richards-Ross at London 2012 (third from left).
Last weekend the reigning Olympic women’s 400 metres champion, Sanya Richards-Ross from the USA pulled up in her heat at the United States trials in Eugene, Oregon. Less than three weeks earlier she’d suffered a bad hamstring injury and this now means she will miss the Olympic Games in Rio next month and the chance to defend her title.
Sanya was clearly moved as the crowd of over 20,000 gave her a standing ovation, realizing they were witnessing the end of a wonderful career.
Afterwards she told the waiting media: “I’ve been so blessed, I Can’t cry, can’t complain. I’ll keep my head up.”
London 2012 was the pinnacle whens he finally won the Olympic title her career deserved. She won her first major title at the World Championships in Paris back in 2003 as part of the United States 4x400 metres relay team. Since then she’s own individual titles at the World Championship and World Indoor Champions and three successive Olympic relay titles.
In a previous interview, Passion for Sport reporter Norman Brierley asked her about her faith.
“My faith means everything to me. I think it is the one thing that keeps me going because I do believe in God and I believe everything happens for a reason. I think even the tough moments are all going to work together for my good.”
For more about Sanya Richards-Ross, listen to this week’s edition of Planet Sport.