Back from the brink and how

“My injury came at a time when I was developing a good rhythm,all of a sudden it all just went away,” said the six- foot Croat,who lost 15 kilograms — down from 80.

However,while her doctors ruled her out of full training for the rest of the year,Perkovic defied the odds,when she started jogging just three months after her operations.

“I had to get back and prove to the world that the illness was nothing but a minor bump,” said Perkovic.

Indeed until that point,Perkovic had been seen as an upcoming talent. Beginning her career at 11,Perkovic advanced steadily,competing in her first World Junior Championship at 16. Although she failed to make the final,the feisty Croat did not give up,winning a silver at the 2007 championships and then following it up with a bronze just a year later.

The appendicitis-related complications in 2009 ensured that Perkovic did not get to appear in any of the international meets that year.

However,she was back in 2010 at the European Championships in Barcelona and was hungry for success. She struggled through the qualifying rounds,even facing elimination at one stage,but managed to hold her own and then threw 64.67m in the final to become the youngest ever European champion at just 20.

Perkovic followed up her heroics at Barcelona with a win at the 2010 Diamond League at Brussels and a silver at the IAAF Continental Cup in Split.

That high was followed by a massive trough in 2011 as Perkovic failed two doping tests. She tested positive for use of the psychostimulant ‘Methylhexanamine’,which Perkovic tearfully maintained she unwittingly consumed.

Perkovic was slapped with a six- month suspension and many people were quick to seize the opportunity to write off her Olympic chances. However,it was a determined Perkovic who had the last laugh. She returned stronger than ever in 2012,winning the gold at the European Championships in Helsinki with 67.62m. Going into the Olympics,Perkovic is in red-hot form after recording a 68.24m throw —the second-best effort this year — at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in May.

While her career is once again on the upswing,Perkovic is aiming for the ultimate high,although she remains very cautious about making predictions.

“Last time 64.74 was good enough for gold at the Olympics but now there are so many girls who easily throw beyond 65 metres,I have to produce something special if I want to see myself on that podium,” said the Croat.

After Beijing low,a London high?

The discus throw competition at Beijing didn’t turn out to be a great spectacle. The gold medal was awarded to Stephanie Brown Trafton,who threw a distance of 64.74 metres,but the average of the three medalists was 63.65 — much lower than the Athens and Syndey averages of 66.62m and 66.43m respectively. However,London may not be as lacklustre an affair as Beijing. The re-emergence of throwers like Sandra Perkovic and Nadine Muller and the resurgence of the old guard led by Yarelys Barrios and Darya Pishchalnikova give hope of a closely fought affair. Muller and Perkovic both threw 68 m in separate events in 2012. Pishchalnikova and Barrios have also hit the 68-metre mark in various events in the lead-up to the Olympics.

FAVOURITES HAVE SERVED TIME

Some of the top medal hopefuls at the London Games have a dark past. Darya Pischalnikova (Russia),a former European champion and a favourite at the 2008 Bejing Games was barred from competing after she tampered with the samples she submitted for dope tests. Pishchalnikova was handed a two-year ban. Natalya Sadova,the 2004 Athens gold medalist was banned for two years for taking a banned anabolic steroid,while Perkovic,a two time World champion,underwent a six-month ban in 2011 for use of methylhexanamine.