Mageean’s enforced withdrawal was the newest chapter in quite a lot of Olympic heartbreaks for the athlete from the city of Portaferry in Northern Eire.
The County Down girl narrowly missed out on a spot within the ultimate of her occasion in 2016 and a calf damage every week earlier than her warmth within the delayed Tokyo Video games noticed her eradicated on the first time of asking.
This yr, she received the 1500m on the European Championships in Rome in June, however had struggled for type within the Diamond League occasions in Monaco and Paris within the build-up to the Video games.
“I have been managing an ankle concern for years, this isn’t a brand new incidence for me,” defined Mageean.
“For the previous eight years I have been coping with ache in my proper ankle that ranges from being barely uncomfortable after I’m going about my day-to-day actions to truly not having the ability to bodily run and sitting on the steps considering if I can proceed, if I must retire from the game.
“It is all the time been about micro-managing round my ankle and the summer season was going effectively, the European Champs was clearly phenomenal and I used to be delighted to lastly get that gold medal.”
Preparations for the Olympics subsequently progressed, till persistent ache in her ankle after a coaching session two weeks earlier than the Video games led to the tough determination to withdraw from Paris 2024.
“I had two injections into the ankle, into totally different elements to see if we may cool down the ache and sadly it did not which resulted in me having to make the choice the day earlier than I used to be going to begin my third Olympic Video games that I might should withdraw.
“It was completely heartbreaking and devastating to should make that call. The very fact I did not know I might have the ability to make it by means of the race was the principle issue. I knew I wasn’t going to have the ability to do myself justice on the market.”