The Great Britain technical director, Shane Sutton, remains confident that his leading sprinter Becky James can be ready for the Rio Olympics although her return to full training has been postponed again following a setback in her rehabilitation from a knee injury.
“It’s a time thing, I still believe she’ll be ready for Rio, I’m totally confident of that. She was back on her bike but one or two little things have raised their head,” Sutton said as he looked forward to next week’s world track championships in Paris where Jess Varnish, Victoria Williamson and the former heptathlete Katy Marchant will attempt to fill the notable gap left by James.
The Welsh racer ruled herself out of the world’s last October when she began treatment for the knee at the English Institute of Sport’s rehabilitation centre at Bisham Abbey. The previous spring she had looked set to rule the roost in women’s sprinting after winning four medals, including golds in the match sprint and keirin, at the world championships in Minsk in February 2013.
But James, 23, had to pull out of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last July and was diagnosed in September with a triple injury to her left knee, having endured several months of disrupted training and racing as she attempted to ride through the injury. It was ultimately decided that a complete halt was the only answer.
However, Sutton is still upbeat. “We are talking about a girl here who is one of the best, to be one of the best you’ve got to be very strong mentally,” he said.
“She’s coping. I know that if anyone is going to survive this and cope with this it’ll be Becky. I’ve spoken to her on several occasions, and as I’ve said to her, ‘you’ve done it, you’ve been world champion, you don’t need it’ [but] I can assure you this girl wants it and there is a massive difference there.”
The GB technical director would not go into specifics about what had happened – “the details are kept between the medical team and her rehab team in Bisham,” he said. “I just need to know whether she’s on her bike or not and at this moment in time she’s had a setback.”
Speaking to the Observer as she announced a premature end to her 2014 season after the severity of her knee injury was clear, James said she had a target of being fully fit by July this year, and as far as Sutton is concerned, that can still be attained. “We’d like to think that over the next month or so she’ll be turning her legs again but another four or five weeks isn’t going to matter.
“As long as we get to 12 months out from the Games – you can do a lot in 12 months. Anyone who comes in reasonable shape with a good foundation behind them, six weeks of good, solid work you’ll get them ready. She’s lost a lot of time but give us 12 months with a clean bill of health she’ll be knocking them over in Rio.”
