Pole vault is one of those sports that is around all the time, but it doesn’t really come into the public eye until the Olympics roll around. It’s unfair, because pole vault is really tough and athletes deserve to be in the spotlight more often than once every four years, but if there is any silver lining, that makes the Rio Olympics a really big deal.
Unfortunately, the best women’s pole vaulter on earth won’t get the opportunity to compete in Rio at 100 percent. Jennifer Suhr, who won the gold medal in the event at the 2012 Games and is the reigning world champion, picked up some kind of illness while she was in Brazil, according to her trainer/husband.
“Jenn has fallen ill,quite ill in the last two days,” Rick Suhr said in a post on Facebook. “This morning it has really kicked in, she has lost her voice almost completely. Seems she picked up a nasty virus here and has caused respiratory complications.”
According to Rick, Jenn has managed to get her hands on antibiotics and some other medicine, and she will compete despite her current illness. He also claims that the world champ came to Rio in top fitness, saying that she is in the best shape of her life.
Considering that most of us wouldn’t even get out of bed with a nasty virus that caused respiratory complications, it says a lot about how tough Suhr is that she’s going to compete despite her illness. Here’s to hoping that she’s able to go all Michael Jordan in the Flu Game and succeed even though she’s nowhere near 100 percent.
(via Larry Brown Sports)
