Journey of an Olympian. Chapter 32

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Chapter Thirty-Two: The come-back trail

Our baby boy, Brandon, was born by emergency caesarean in the early hours of January 13th, 2004. I recovered quite quickly and was back in the gym about 6 weeks later, gently lifting the empty bar, to the horror of my doctor. When I visited my doctor at 6 weeks he told me to wait until I got to the 12 week mark before I attempted doing anything in the full squat position, but I couldn’t wait that long. I was itching to get back into it! So much for retirement. I was thinking at first I just wanted to get back in shape but admittedly, in the back of mind I knew on the horizon we also had the Commonwealth Games coming to Melbourne in 2006.

I only took 6 months maternity leave from work (this was all we could afford). During this time I got into the routine of becoming a mum. I also managed to train a few times a week, mainly during the day at a quiet time, propping Brandon in a corner of the gym in his pram to sleep or watch. I would do snatches and cleans from the hang, to avoid making a noise dropping the weight and waking or startling Brandon. I was mainly doing triples and was being fairly cautious. I had absolutely no abdominal pain from the surgery although my diary notes I occasionally had problems hitting my scar.

My local paper picked up that I was planning a come-back and printed a story of me in March, with Brandon. By early June, only 5 months after having Brandon, I was back snatching around 60kg and my Clean& Jerk was up to 80kg.  Watch Snatch (5th June 2004)   &  Watch Clean & Jerk (5th June 2004)

In August the 2004 Olympic Trials were held and I would have liked to compete there, even though I knew I was too far off being considered for selected, but if I had, I would have been embarrassed with my Total. I wanted my first major competition back to be a sign to everyone to watch out, a signal I was back.

Brandon’s first flight
My first major competition back was 13th September 2004. I travelled with the NSW team to Launceston in Tasmania to compete in the Australian Championships. Coming along to support me was Brandon (then 8 months old) and hubby, Steve. This was Brandon’s first time on an airplane! He received lots of attention from everyone all around, especially as he was becoming quite mobile, crawling around everywhere.

2004 Australian Championships

2004 Australian Championships
I managed a poor total (for me) at this competition, snatching 72.5kg watch here and Clean & Jerking 87.5kg watch here. I guess it wasn’t too bad considering I’d had a baby 8 months earlier, by C-Section. The 160kg Total was enough to win my weight class too. I couldn’t help thinking what a poor state Australian weightlifting was in when someone could win the nationals only a few months after having a baby and major abdominal surgery!

Off the platform during 2004, I was elected to the AOC Athletes Commission for the next quadrennial 2004-2008. Damien Brown had served before me but was now retired. It was his suggestion that I get involved on the AWF Athletes Commission and then nominate for the AOC Athletes Committee and I appreciated the guidance and advice he gave me in the beginning, until I could handle it on my own. It was an amazing experience serving on these committees and having the opportunity to voice my opinion and assist with development and promotion of both Weightlifting and the Olympic movement.

By the end of October 2004, I was back up to snatching 77.5kg and Clean and Jerking 95kg. Unfortunately at these weights I seemed to get stuck.

Coming up next – Chapter 33: The come back stalls