As the Star-Spangled Banner echoed through the stadium, the USA celebrated its dominance at the Paris Olympics, topping the medal tally with 126 medals. Amid the triumph, one story stood out—a near miss that could have added a 41st gold to their haul.

The 26-year-old long-distance runner O’Keefe stormed into Paris after obliterating the US trials record in the marathon. O’Keeffe finished with an astounding 2:22.10, which was more than three minutes faster than the previous record. Expectedly, O’Keeffe was a gold medal frontrunner in Paris. And she would have had high chances of winning the race, had her body not betrayed her in the most important time of her life. 

Fiona O’Keeffe reflects on her sudden Olympic pull-out

It is no secret that Fiona O’Keefe pulled out from the women’s marathon in Paris. The American gold medal prospect did start the race, but a few kilometers into the race, O’Keefe’s body gave up. While this came as a shock, fans soon became curious about what led to such a heartbreaking decision. According to a byte given to letsrun.com, O’Keefe’s coach Alistair Cragg mentioned that the athlete experienced a hip flexor tightness that resulted in the injury. 

However, surprisingly, neither Cragg nor O’Keeffe herself could single out a specific reason for her discomfort. With the latest updates coming in, an excerpt of the athlete provided by her agency ‘Kimbia’ was uploaded on X by Chris Chavez. Reflecting on her physical state on the morning of the race, Fiona O’Keefe stated that it was a ‘painful’ experience. She said, “It was really painful. It felt like my body wouldn’t let me run the way I needed to from the get-go. I did a short warm-up and I didn’t feel like there was much point in continuing on if I wasn’t able to compete effectively. I think I made it about a mile into the race and we knew it was definitely possible I would drop out.”

The 26-year-old further detailed that she wanted to continue for a little more in the race and push her body further. However, in order to avoid any long-term damage, O’Keefe and her team decided to withdraw from the race after just running five kilometers. Well, despite having her heart broken in Paris, the tough times have not ended for Fiona O’Keeffe. Still battling the mysterious injury, the athlete is desperate to find a suitable explanation. 

O’Keeffe bewildered by her latest injury

“The Physios seem to mainly think it was an issue of how my hips were aligned and I had an ongoing tight calf so it was possibly compensation because it was on the opposite side.” This was the best that the doctors and physios could make of O’Keeffe’s situation. Ahead of her all-important race, the athlete tried every possible resource to figure out what was wrong with her hips. O’Keefe even got herself an MRI scan which did not reveal any signs of muscular or bone damage in her hips. Still, her pain persisted and despite praying for it to go away, it did not. 

Thus, going forward, the first thing Fiona O’Keeffe wants to do is to find out the exact cause. The athlete stated that she was scheduled for a little time out from the competitive sphere and thus, that should give her enough time to find her answers. She also stated that along with her physical health, O’Keefe must also focus on finetuning her routine and conditioning in order to perform better in future. Thus, with a heavy heart, Fiona O’Keeffe had to leave Paris. But once fully recovered, she is bound to achieve unprecedented success courtesy of the impeccable skill set she possesses.