Stairway to heaven . . .

Sports writer

Saturday 5 May 2012

THE surgery and rehabilitation which has taken Susan Egelstaff to the brink of Olympic badminton selection has also given her the cleanest close in Glasgow.

Susan Egelstaff missed three months of qualifying tournaments

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Doug Gillon

During weeks on crutches she had to shuffle on her bum to go down the stairs from her top-floor flat.

A routine shot, one she had made "millions of times before", during the quarter final of the Brazilian Open last September, did serious damage to her right knee. "I managed to play on and win, but the following morning the knee was up like a football."

The prognosis was bleak. Scans revealed the knee was a shattered wreck, and standard recovery and rehab seemed to dismiss prospects of amassing qualifying points. Her Olympic dream was in ruins. "The shin and thigh bone had smashed against each other. I also tore cartilage, which wasn't a big deal. It was the bone damage. It should have been smooth, but was all jagged, bits of chipped bone floating about in my knee."My surgeon, Gordon Mackay, was brilliant. I was operated on two days after the scan, on October 5, but I thought, 'No chance for the Olympics'. Six months ago I was still on crutches. Nobody thought I'd make it, including me."Physiotherapy and conditioning staff at the sportscotland Institute of Sport worked wonders. Mackay reigned her in when enthusiasm threatened to compromise recovery, and a physio accompanied her as she returned to tournament play.Surgery involved micro-fracture, drilling small holes in the bone. "This lets the marrow seep out, and it kinds of scabs over, but because it's bone you have to sit and give it time," she said. "That really got inside my head, but the institute sport psychologist was fantastic."Egelstaff was comfortably clear of her rival Liz Cann in the race for Olympic qualification before her injury. "The last three months have been the most stressful of my life," she said. "It's been miserable. I have felt physically sick, and for a good two months I couldn't get to sleep, or I'd wake up and think about it. It takes over your life. I would look at Liz's results on line, trying not to get too obsessive. It would drive you mental, sitting unable to do anything. It's bad enough when you're both in the same tournament, but it's even worse when you are at home, on crutches, looking at how she is doing."By the time Egelstaff was match-fit again, 10 tournaments had passed, yet when the 2012 qualifying period concluded on Thursday, Scotland's former Commonwealth bronze medallist was in pole position, 36th in the world rankings, 12 places and 2586 points ahead of Cann. Selection confirmation is at the end of the month. Egelstaff beat Cann to take Commonwealth bronze in 2006, but Cann eliminated the Scot in Delhi. They haven't met since, but Egelstaff is 7-6 in career meetings.With Glasgow's Imogen Bankier forming half of the leading UK mixed doubles pairing, Scotland should have half of a four-strong GB Olympic team. Given the millions available to English badminton, not to mention punitive cuts imposed by sportscotland on their Scottish counterparts, this is a remarkable achievement, but more pertinently here we are celebrating Egelstaff's achievement."I don't want to celebrate," she says. "Nothing is certain until I get the final letter, but I can't see any reason to pick Liz. I missed six tournaments, and then it took playing in another four or five to get match-fit, but I'm 2500 points ahead."It's hard enough to qualify in a year when you are fully fit, but I improved a lot of things you don't normally have time to work on. When I was doing eight hours a day, in rehab and on crutches, I was doing so much core body strength, flexibility and stability stuff. These things tend to get pushed aside, but I noticed a difference when I came back to playing."The thought that this might be all for nothing entered my head, but I wanted to know there was nothing further I could have done. "I was on crutches for four weeks and in rehab for eight. I live in a top-floor flat. Sixty-four steps. Total nightmare. I'd go up on crutches, but shuffle down on my bum. The stairs got a good clean. But I was a nightmare to live with. Dylan, my husband, was trying to be so nice to me, and that was even more annoying, frankly."This has made me realise how lucky I am being an athlete. Even through the crap times, it's still the best job ever. I won't give up being a full-time athlete willingly. I will never have another job in my life that I'll enjoy as much as playing badminton full time. I have never had a proper job, but I know when I have to get one, it will be pretty sh*t. Sooner or later, the real world will knock on my door, unfortunately."I will decide after the Olympics about Glasgow 2014. You can never say for definite. Two years at 17 seems nothing, but not at 29, which I am now. "At the moment I really enjoy playing, but when I wake every morning I'm sore, and the older I get, the sorer I get."

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