Pursuing Olympic success has damaged me physically and mentally

British pole vault record-holder Holly Bradshaw realised a dream when winning bronze in Tokyo. Yet, nearing the end of her career, she now questions if it has all been worth it

Holly Bradshaw’s Olympic bronze medal from the Tokyo Games sits proudly on display in her lounge. “Every time I look at it, I have a really warm feeling inside,” she smiles. This sweetest of satisfaction radiates from an object that represents the pinnacle of what has been, to date, her life’s work.

The 32-year-old has been at the elite end of women’s pole vaulting since she was a teenager and has, literally, raised the bar for the sport in her country. Returning home from Japan with that ever so precious piece of hand luggage two years ago was the realisation of a long-held ambition, reached through the most exhaustive of processes.

So, yes, when someone refers to her as an Olympic medallist, Bradshaw will happily grant herself that moment of inner joy. It gives the prize – something which so few people will ever come close to winning, let alone possess – an extra glow.

Look at it for too long, though, and the sheen starts to fade. A darker side to the achievement begins to seep out. Behind that medal also lies anguish.

There is the physical pain that has come with repeated injury battles, particularly those over the last two years that have prevented her from building on that bronze, but also a mental torment which, Bradshaw admits, worries her as retirement approaches.

In her entire adult life, the woman with an ability to turn her hand to just about any sport but found she truly excelled at reaching great heights, has known nothing but the life of a professional athlete. She has, she says, “been shaped by the sport” in many positive ways yet it has also left her feeling unsure of who she really is.

Is she “Holly the athlete”, the intense character who has restricted, recorded and analysed just about every aspect of her life over the past decade or so in relation to how it will affect her performance? Or is she actually still the carefree girl she remembers from before all of this, the youngster who was “a bit ditzy, all over the show and happy-go-lucky”?

With the end of her professional athlete life in sight – all being well the finish line will come at what would be her fourth Games in Paris next year – the Blackburn Harrier is in reflective mood when she sits down with AW.

After a particularly hard…