If you remember seeing Vancouver’s Liz Gleadle launch a javelin at the London Olympics four years ago—she was the first Canadian woman to crack the final in the event since 1968—there’s a solid chance you won’t recognize her today.
The 27-year-old, who begins competition Tuesday, has changed in nearly every way from the athlete we saw make her Olympic debut in London. As she puts it: “I’m a totally different athlete, a totally different human.”
Gleadle, the Canadian record holder, recently chatted with Sportsnet about all the changes she’s made, how much she’s grown since 2012, her thoughts on doping and what it’s like to be a part of this strong Canadian track team.
Sportsnet: A lot has changed for you since the last Olympics.
Gleadle: Have you seen pictures? I don’t even look like the same person. I have blond hair, I’m 20 lb. lighter, I’m way fitter.
What happened?
In 2013, I had a back injury. I could barely throw or walk, so I ended up seeing five different physiotherapists. My hip was hurting so everybody was trying to treat the hip. Then came the big moment: I remember laying on the table, three or four people were working on me—one on my foot, two on my ribs and one testing my hip. Before… the corrections my left hip moved like crazy and was in a lot of pain, and my right hip was rock solid. After the corrections my hips were even and I cried with joy. The next year was spent re-hauling my body. My movement patterns became cleaner and I became a better machine at producing force.
How did you see the results?
Despite the fact I was lighter and hadn’t trained in a long time, I broke my Canadian record by three meters and improved significantly just by cleaning up my motor patterns. Since then I’ve been able to add strength to those motor patterns because I’m healthy again. I’m a totally different athlete, a totally different human.
Do people recognize you, still?
In the past couple years there’s been some people I may have seen in London that I’ve straight up started talking to, and they don’t recognize me. I’m 170 lb., not 190 lb. My body composition and distribution is totally different, my hair is different. I’m like “Hi!” And they’re like “Hiiiii…?” [Laughs]
So before the injury, you weren’t using your body efficiently?
Exactly. Because of the way I preferred to produce strength, my back was really strong. In doing an isolated triceps extension movement I would only use my lats. When my physiotherapist would hold my lats to keep them in place and not allow them to contract, I couldn’t do a one-lb. triceps extension for more than three reps. And this is a girl at the time would could bench almost 200 lb. I basically had a buildup of super-bad motor patterns and it created stresses in my body, which kind of blew out my hip, because my back was so strong.
So this is the best we’ve ever seen you.
For sure. Physically, I’m there. I’m ready.
What’s the goal in Rio?
I would like to medal. I think if I threw over 62 m at the games I could be happy at the outcome. I would be ecstatic with anything that’s a personal best.
Your PB is 64.83 m. Is there room for improvement?
Most definitely. It’s upsetting to say I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thrown over 65 metres in practice. To know that it’s there, just not in front of other people, it’s getting to the point of intense frustration. Hopefully that’s something I can change in Rio.
I can’t help but notice the No. 1–ranked javelin thrower on the women’s side is Russian, Sunette Viljoen. I don’t want to focus on doping, but…
I’ve more recently come to think of doping as not just cheating, but stealing. Because you’re stealing someone’s life. Goldie Sayers, a javelin thrower for the U.K., came fourth in Beijing and we recently found out that a Russian woman who finished ahead of her doped. Her 2008 medal will probably be taken away. I read this heartbreaking article about Goldie saying, “I found out that I won my bronze medal when I missed three calls from my agent and I had to pull over on the side of the highway.” And that was her moment of finding out she won an Olympic medal.
[Because Sayers didn’t medal in London], she went back to train too early after 2008 and she hurt her back and it changed the rest of her career. To think of the people she would have met or the job opportunities or the opportunities in general—the path of her life has been totally changed because someone has doped.
I came in 12th at the London Olympics, so if someone doped ahead of me it’s not going to make much of a difference. When you see people being affected so intensely by someone else’s selfishness, it’s heartbreaking.
That’s so well put. What are you most looking forward to about your second Olympics?
Competing. Being back in the stadium. There’s nothing like it. There’s nothing like letting go of the javelin and knowing it’s a great throw and knowing that you properly represented your country. And this track team is awesome. We’ve come so far as a group, and so many of us came up together. It’s exciting to see people you’ve known for a dozen years doing well. For me, it’s inspiring.