Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke is sharing a message of resilience after getting injured mid-race at the 2024 Paris Olympics. “Not the Olympics I had dreamed of. Unfortunately I fully ruptured my hamstring tendon in my heat, causing me to hit a hurdle and take a big fall,” Jenneke wrote after her second race.
“Today was about not giving up & leaving no stone unturned. I gave it my all and honoured to now call myself a two time Olympian.” The 31-year-old athlete, who has gone viral for , fell on a hurdle and crashed to the ground during the women’s 100-meter hurdles race on Aug.
7. She scrambled to get up and slowly finished the race. Because she crossed the finish line, Jenneke was able to avoid a result of DNF, or did not finish, which would have rendered her ineligible for the race's repechage round.
The repechage round is a new addition to some track and field events at this year’s Olympics. The round offers runners and hurdlers who didn’t automatically qualify for the semifinals during their first rounds a second chance to advance. Jenneke, who made her Olympic debut at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, was back on the starting line again on Aug.
8 despite undergoing medical tests that showed she'd ruptured her hamstring tendon during Wednesday's race. “I got out really well and then I just felt something pop in my lead leg down towards my knee and so I lost all power,” Jenneke said of her fall while speaking to the media after her second race.