Athletics: Tasha Danvers announces retirement

June 18, 2012

One of Britain’s longest serving athletes and Olympic bronze medallist, Tasha Danvers has announced her retirement from the sport just weeks before the London Olympic Games.

Danvers, 34, has battled a series of injuries since winning a memorable bronze in Beijing in 2008 and today she conceded that her body is not able to meet the demands of another Games.

“It’s extremely disappointing not to be able to put myself into contention for selection for London 2012. Based on my training at different stages my coach and I believed we had a genuine chance of making it. But the setbacks have been too many to overcome,” she said.

“Since winning Olympic bronze in Beijing I have made so many sacrifices to fulfill my dream of competing in London. Making the decision to relocate back to the UK meant leaving my seven year old son behind in America which is the hardest thing in the world to do.

“But we genuinely believed I could step onto that podium again and with the support of my family, Malcolm Arnold, UKA, the medical team and the National Lottery, I’ve done everything possible to try and achieve that. Sadly my body has had enough.”

Danvers, who also won Commonwealth Games silver in 2006, less than 18 months after giving birth to her son, has been one of Britain’s most consistent hurdlers, making every final she has contested since 2004.

Her coach Malcolm Arnold said, “This is the worse possible news for Tasha, but there is no doubt she has thrown everything at trying to make London. She is an Olympic medallist and that pedigree doesn’t just disappear, I was confident that if we could get her to the Games she would have been very competitive.

“This is the flipside of the Olympic dream but career ending injuries are a fact of life at this level of sport. Our medical team have worked incredibly hard but sometimes the body knows best.”

Head Coach Charles van Commenee said, “We don’t have too many current Olympic medallists in our team and in an ideal world they would all be with us in London. Tasha knows what it takes to be competitive and make the podium, which would have been a huge advantage.

“Retirement is a hard decision for any athlete, but when the decision is taken out of your hands so close to an Olympic Games it must be even tougher. I wish Tasha all the very best.”

From all the team here at Sportsister, we wish you the very best of luck with all that you do in the future Tasha!

Lizzie Flint, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

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