In March this year Australia’s most decorated male track and field athlete and Ballarat legend Jared Tallent announced his retirement from competitive athletics.

Unfortunately, Adelaide based Tallent’s troublesome hamstring stood in the way of a qualifying time and the fourth Olympic Games farewell that he was hoping for.

As one of Tallent’s treating Sports Physiotherapists I have had the pleasure of witnessing first hand the professionalism and drive that has defined the champion. I have also had the pleasure of working with the remarkable sports medicine network that Australia has to support its team members. Tallent knows international competition, travel and what is required from his team for success. I have benefited from that knowledge and he has had success from the unique skill set that I have brought to his team.

The journey of Sports Physiotherapy pre COVID19 had enabled me to periodically travel to the Australian Institute of Sport for meetings with key sports medicine team members and to travel to international training and competition venues.

I have been fortunate to travel and work in the following locations;

• Suzhou, China 2014, 2015
• Flagstaff Arizona, USA 2016
• Rio Di Janeiro Olympic Games , Brazil 2016
• Dallas Texas, USA 2017
• Juarez and Monterrey, Mexico 2017
• St Moritz, Switzerland 2017
• Livigo, Italy 2017
• London World Championships, United Kingdom 2017

It has been a pleasure to have the opportunity to represent Australia as a Physiotherapist and be part of a great team of athletes and experts.

In my travel I have also been involved and treated Olympic athletes from Canada, United States of America, Brazil, Sweden, United Kingdom, Chile, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands and New Zealand. There is much to learn from other countries and their sporting systems.

A highlight for me as a traveling Sports Physiotherapist was working at altitude in Flagstaff Arizona in 2016 on the eve of the Olympic Games. Tallent had sustained a hamstring injury and needed to recover quickly in order to prove fitness and defend his Olympic title.
When at altitude with athletes you are often a sole clinician working with a team of athletes. This can be a challenging experience, however with Australia’s Sports medicine brains trust available to assist I was never unsupported.
On this occasion with the assistance of an expert team, Northern Arizona University gym, one month, one athlete and one hamstring to think about I perfected the management of hamstring injuries for rehabilitation and for elite performance. Jared was then able to go on and win the race walking world cup in Italy, and fight for the gold medal at the Rio Olympics.

It has been a pleasure working with this champion athlete.

I look forward to my next challenge as APA Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist.