Three decades ago, Gail Devers, now 57 made a history that has been etched as the very first in American track history. Devers, back in 1993 became the first ever female track athlete to hold a medal in 100-meter dash in both Worlds and Olympics. In 1991, she secured the silver medal in the World Championships. However, the tale is not just woven with a list full of accolades. Rather, it is the hurdles of life that she has to cross to reach to the pedestal that makes her story a tale to tell and makes her one of the most decorated female track stars of all time.
Gail Devers recently joined Justin Gatlin and Rodney Green in the latest episode of the Tidal League podcast. Representing her nation at the Olympic stage in 1988, at just 22 years of age, she was gearing up to get back into the competitive realm soon. However, destiny had planned it differently for Devers. Although she qualified for the 100-meter hurdles in the 1988 Olympics, her health condition took an unexpected twist. Gail started to go through major vision loss and a terrible migraine. She pushed herself through the physical pain and ranked 8th in the Olympics. But things were waiting to take an even worse turn.
Just a year after the Olympics she was diagnosed with a condition termed the Graves’ disease. It’s an auto-immune disease that affects the thyroid gland. After undergoing treatment, she could not wait to step back into the competitive sphere. But as she prepared for the upcoming World Championships of 1991, she “couldn’t feel” her legs. To cure the medical issue, Devers had to sign up for radiation therapy. And it did leave her with repercussions to deal with.
From developing blisters to swelling of her feet to feeling numbness in her legs, she had to fight all of it. Throwing light on the unexpected physical barriers she had to face because of the grave issues posed by Graves’ disease, Devers shared, “I couldn’t feel my legs”. However, neither she nor her coach was ready to settle down for defeat that easily. As Devers shared her troubles with her Coach Bobby, he immediately told her, “Can you feel your arms?…well then, tell your feet to keep up okay”. And that’s what Devers decided to do.
Gail Devers decided to overcome all the barriers that her health condition had been putting up. Devers knew that with grit and determination, she would be able to defeat every threat she would encounter. She shared, “It was like you know what you’re here so my mentality was you’re still living you’re still breathing you take uphill every day for your rest of your life that’s a very small price to pay to have the quality of life to be able to go out here and do the things you do if you take that for granted that’s on you get your tail and gear let’s go and that’s the talk that I had to myself.” And she did it. From struggling to even barely walk after her treatment, she bagged the silver medal in the 1991 World Championships 100-meter hurdles.
The post Unable to Feel Her Legs, Gail Devers Reveals How Coach Bobby’s Extreme Techniques Helped Get Back on Track: ‘I Was the Happiest’ appeared first on EssentiallySports.
