Coach Plays Down Sullivan Scare
2008-07-04
Craig Lord
World record holder pops a rib and pulls up in 50m race in Sydney

Eamon Sullivan's coach Grant Stoelwinder is confident that a back injury sustained by the world 50m freestyle champion in a race yesterday will not damage his prospects at the Olympic Games, according to reports Down Under.

Sullivan pulled up instantly and paddled down the pool to finish in 34.99 for a 50m in a grand prix meeting at the Sydney Olympic pool. A fair way from his 21.28 world record. The coach told Michael Cowley at the Sydney Morning Herald: 'On Monday morning he popped a rib in his back, it's the same injury he had at the last orientation camp before the last grand prix [in April] and it has been really good up until this point. On Tuesday morning he had a cortisone injection and went out did a bit of light swimming on Thursday and we thought we were ready to go this afternoon. The plan was if he felt any twinges when he dived in, that he wouldn't swim the race through. There was a twinge, so it was more of a precaution that he pulled up. Hopefully after a couple more days and laying off the dives for another week, he'll be right. It was seemingly better when he was swimming but the dive was always going to be the test.'

Sullivan has suffered his fair share of injuries over the years but Stoelwinder suggested that his charge had grown and matured since then and would not be affected by the latest incident. Could the injury flare up again? 'There's always a risk in everything isn't there?' said the coach. 'It's just one of those things, we'll have to get the treatment right, get the rehab right ...'.

Meantime, Sullivan's girlfriend has a bad back and withdrew from racing in Sydney, and Leisel Jones withdrew with what the SMH describes as a 'tightness in her groin'.