An undisclosed illness has derailed swimmer Bradley Ally’s preparation and he is in danger of missing the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Ally returned to Barbados a few months ago to train with coach Abdul Sharif, who insisted on a fitness test and other checks that revealed the 24-year-old was ill.
Although Sharif refused to state the nature of the illness in an interview with NATIONSPORT, another source said it was an issue of fatigue which had led to alarmingly slow recovery times after training sessions.
“He isn’t well.
The treatment in Barbados is taking too long to get the results.
“We would get them faster in Florida, so he has gone back to Florida from a month ago so that he can get the treatment and he can get the checks to make sure he is back to normal,” Sharif explained.
“We have to go back to the drawing board, but it is all to do with the recovery. If he does not recover from this illness, he might not go to the Olympics at all. It is as serious as that.”
Ally is due back at the end of this month, contingent on his recovery. But in discussion with the Barbados Olympic Association, the decision was made to correct the problem now before it has a more serious long-term impact.
Ally was a double gold medallist at the Central American and Caribbean Games last year. He missed the Pan American Games this year.
The swimmer and his coach were working to establish a baseline fitness before the more sport specific training began.
“It is going to adversely affect his preparation towards the Olympics because this is a crucial part we are losing.
“But [it is] a case of taking care of his health or going towards the Olympics and not achieving anything and probably having long-term damage,” Sharif said.
The coach, who was trained at the American Olympic Association training facility in Colorado Springs, took all aspects into consideration and assembled a team of professionals from various disciplines to provide support for Ally.
“Before I started to work with him, I wanted to make sure that he was sound,” he said.
“We did a complete physical and we recognized that there were some concerns and the concerns were serious enough for us to put the training on pause for a while and correct them before we restart.”
Sharif advised all athletes to get checked.
“From Ryan Brathwaite back down, I think that they need to go and get themselves properly checked,” he said.
“You see, you are asking the body to do in some cases superhuman things. You put the body under a lot of pressure and at the elite level, the competition and training are vicious. It is brutal in some instances, and if the body is going to suffer because of that, you can have long-term damage.
“So you need to know that your body is capable of doing what it is required of it.
Otherwise you are shooting in the dark.”
Sharif said that in most cases the illness or injury could be corrected, and while many athletes continued to train without being aware that they were hurt or ill, it showed in their results.
The coach said this was an area that had been neglected here.
“We in Barbados for a long time have not taken the physical health of the athletes as seriously as we should, but my exposure and my whole modus operandi is different from that of most of the coaches.
“Therefore, before I go into the real serious work, I like to make sure that my athletes are capable of doing it because I know there is life after athletics. There is life after swimming, there is life after track, there is life after everything else.
“It is alright to get the short-term results, but if the athlete is not going to be any use to himself after, then what have you gained, really?” he asked.
To date, Shakera Reece, Pan American Games 100 metres bronze medallist, is the only Olympic qualifier from Barbados.
