PARIS, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Every athlete competing in the Paris Olympic Games has had to make huge sacrifices and physical effort to get to the peak of their game, but New Zealand rugby sevens player Sarah Hirini has not just done that, she has also completed a miraculous recovery from an injury that looked certain to end her Olympic dream.
The 31-year-old took a silver medal with New Zealand on her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 and was part of the team that went one better to win gold at Tokyo 2020.
Paris offered the chance to do something very few rugby players have done - win consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games, a feat only Fiji's men's team have managed so far.
But Hirini's dream looked to be in tatters in December last year when she tore her anterior cruciate knee ligament while competing in a tournament in Dubai. She had an operation in December, but that left just seven months to get back to fitness - and seven months is very little time to recover from a torn cruciate ligament.
The Black Ferns' captain had no intention of missing out on her Olympic dream, and not only did she start an intensive recovery program, she even took part in a documentary about her fight for fitness - appropriately titled 'Relentless.'
"There were less than 30 seconds to go and I felt a 'pop'. I had two thoughts: this could be my Olympics over and I'm sick of this," she said.
The treatment effectively saw Hirini cram "nine months to a year of recovery" into just seven months and she admitted she was worried she would get close to fitness, "and then get a setback".
However, Hirini has completed her fightback and was in the New Zealand side that kicked off their Olympic campaign with a comfortable win over Canada.
Now she, Portia Woodman, Theresa Stefano and Tyla King have a chance forming part of a very exclusive club of rugby players with three Olympic medals, including two golds, from three Games.
"Standing on the podium with my team, hopefully with a gold medal around my neck; that would be pretty amazing," she said. ■
