Olympics Games 2024 hurdler who fell TWICE in calamitous heat race reveals brutal new detail that will see her go down as a champion

The female hurdler who fell twice during her 100m hurdles heat race at the Olympic Games has cemented herself as one of Australia’s bravest athletes.

Michelle Jenneke experienced a race that all athletes dread in the third heat on Wednesday. After making a strong start over the first two hurdles, she clattered into the third with her right leg.

She immediately lost balance after her collision with the hurdle, and was thrown forward and landed heavily on her left side.

Jenneke quickly got to her feet and attempted the next hurdle – in the lane of the runner on the right of her.

However, there was nearly a second disaster as she didn’t get the run up required for the hurdle, and she kicked it down but was able to stay on her feet and continue the race.

The 31-year-old hobbled over the finish line, and in so doing secured her place in the repechage round on Thursday, but has now revealed that she stood at the starting blocks with a ruptured hamstring.

Unsurprisingly, the Aussie once again finished last, thereby ending her Olympic journey.

But she was in her usual high spirits after the race, insisting that she is happy she finished her campaign on her own terms. 

The Aussie hurdler had a disastrous heat in the hurdles, falling twice

‘Honestly, firstly I’m really proud of myself,’ Jenneke said. 

‘… I ran today with one less hamstring than usual and obviously that was pretty difficult, but … I said to the doctor, ‘Can I still run?’.

‘I didn’t want my Olympic campaign to end the way it was yesterday and I really just wanted to give it my all today.

‘I knew that making that semi-final and running under 13 seconds missing one of your hamstrings is probably pretty impossible, but I wanted to prove to myself and the rest of Australia that I’ve got grit in me and I’m not going to give up easily.

‘The general consensus was that it’s a full rupture so I can’t make that any worse, so provided I was still hurdling in a way that wasn’t jeopardising other parts of my body, if I wanted to race then I had the all-clear to do that.’

She ruptured her hamstring but still came back to compete on Thursday

Jenneke added that she was given the all-clear by medical staff to compete on Thursday.

‘Everyone was pretty on board with me running today,’ added the two-time Olympian.

‘It’s the Olympics and you do everything you can to show up on that start line.

‘We knew it wasn’t going to be fast; this one was all about proving what it takes to get back up.’