Costin’s first steps back

HE may be wrapped in plaster from his hips to his armpits, but the message from Olympic racewalker Jamie Costin yesterday was not to write him off just yet.

The West Waterford man’s Athens dream may have been shattered when he was involved in a serious traffic accident in Greece less than two weeks before he was due to take part in the 50k walk, and while he admits he is lucky to be alive, he insists the damage to the dream is not beyond repair.

“I walked a kilometre on crutches the other day and, even if it took me all of 21 minutes, I feel that those were my first steps back to competitive walking,” he said. “I know it is going to take time and I’ll admit it is a huge mountain to climb, but it is a challenge I am looking forward to.”

The whole incident was of nightmare proportions. He had just dropped Olympic legend Robert Korzeniowski at his hotel and was returning to the training camp where he was based.

“I came around a bend and right in front of me was a lorry on my side of the road. It hit my car, spun me around and hit it again on the rear. Looking at a photograph of the wreck you would wonder how anyone could get out of it alive,” he recalled.

“But the damage was pretty severe. My back was broken in two places - one break and one compressed fracture. It was pretty unstable and it still is. In Athens four different surgeons said I needed surgery and I was worried for a couple of days. But the Olympic Council’s medical staff were in continuous contact the consultants back in Dublin and it was decided I did not need surgery.

“It was difficult. There was a lot of pain. I came back to Dublin and they worked on me and I got everything on. Now I am getting used to the fact that I am getting better.”

He is looking forward to walking competitively again. Korzeniowski, who won his third Olympic gold medal in Athens and has since retired to coach full-time, has promised to coach him back to world class walking and, in fact, will come to visit him for a week in Waterford next month.

His enforced break from competition has given him time to reflect and he has no regrets about going to the training camp.

“Everything we were doing was absolutely spot on,” he said. “We had gone there to chill out, do our own training and it was perfect in every way. We were just gearing up for the Olympics.

“I remember four years earlier in Sydney we met with a whole series of ups and downs during the two weeks in the Athletes Village. It almost wrecked me emotionally and physically. And then I got a cold before the race.

“This time everything was just perfect. We were working in a training camp environment and we had expert coaching that you just could not pay for from Robert (Korzeniowski). But then it suddenly went terribly wrong. So much can happen in such a short time to change your life.”

He recalled his own accident and Gillian O’Sullivan’s enforced withdrawal through injury, Robert Heffernan’s disqualification and Olive Loughnane having to pull out of her race.

“It was absolutely dreadful for Gillian,” he insisted. “She was our real medal hope but she is in the process of having her injury sorted out and she will be back.

“Robert came down recently and collected me and we all met for coffee at Redbarn. We just sat looking at each other, wondering why it had all gone so terribly wrong. You can lay the best plans in the world, we were all so well prepared, we all had adopted a very professional approach but then your life is taken over by circumstances.

“One thing is certain - we will all be back again.

“I know I have a hell of a mountain to climb but I am feeling a lot better now than I was a couple of years ago. It is a very unstable fracture and I have to be very conscious and aware, so patience is going to be a big factor in my recovery.”