British pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw has said that the pursuit of her eventual Olympic bronze medal win at Tokyo 2020 damaged her “physically and mentally”.
Bradshaw finished third in Japan, securing her first major outdoor medal in a breakthrough performance after a series of near misses.
The 32-year-old had finished fifth and sixth in two previous Olympic appearances in the event.
In an interview with magazine Athletics Weekly, Bradshaw has now outlined the toll that the chase for a medal took on her, admitting that the level of training required to achieve even bronze had left her questioning if it was “worth it”.
Bradshaw even revealed that she had felt a need to “starve” herself and avoid going out as she opened up on the life of an elite athlete.
“Winning that bronze medal has damaged me physically and mentally,” she told the magazine. “I just worry, have I damaged myself too much that I can’t get back from that? And then I almost question, is it really worth it, if I’ve damaged myself for the rest of my life?
“I’m a good athlete but the way in which I won my medal was by being so meticulous, so organised, so on it in every single element of my life for 10 years. That involved collecting sleep data, analysing my heart rate variability, weighing my food, weighing myself every morning. ‘OK, I’m too heavy. I need to starve myself for three months.’ I’d wake up in the middle of the night and I’d have to neck a glass of water because I was so hungry but I was trying to drop weight.
“It’s not to say I’ve not had any joy, but I’ve done so many things that have constrained me and for so many years. I would describe it as living unhealthy behaviours for so long.”
Holly Bradshaw finished third at the Tokyo Olympics— (Getty Images)
Bradshaw did not progress from qualifying at this year’s World Championships in Budapest.
The pole vaulter has a master’s degree in sports psychology and has battled a series of health and injury issues of late, including glandular fever and a broken bone in her back.
In the interview, she suggested that the past six months had been particularly tough.
“I’m Holly Bradshaw, I’m a pole vaulter, I get up, I go and train, I go and pole vault,” Bradshaw explained. “I’m not doing it because I love it. I’m just doing it because it’s what I do, and that’s not a good reason.”
