7th September 2013 07:22
It has been a rocky road for the man from Seville, who admits that he found it tough to cope with his injuries at first: “I went from winning practically every race to the lowest point in my career in a matter of months.
“It was tough, at first I found it hard to take it all in, and there were also problems in my personal life to contend with. Maybe the most difficult moment was having to watch London 2012 from my sofa – I had put in all the work and preparation but I wasn’t there.”
“Now that I’ve come to terms with my situation I’m a lot more relaxed. You can’t rush things and do them well, especially when recovering from injury.”
While chance may have played a part in Olmedo’s injury woes, it has also played a part in the change of cities and coaches that’s breathing new life into the 30-year-old’s career.
After nine years training in Soria under the direction of Enrique Pascual, who has coached the likes of Abel Antón, Fermin Cacho and Reyes Estévez, it was his partner’s transfer to Palma de Mallorca that saw Olmedo join forces with coach Johnny Ouriaghli: “At first I was going to stay in Soria, but after seeing how Johnny’s group operated I decided that the best thing would be to stay here and train with him.”
Pascual guided Olmedo through to the peaks of his career to date when he claimed 1500m bronze at the 2010 Barcelona European championships. The following winter he raced away to gold in the European indoors held that year in Paris.
Next came the World championships in Daegu, South Korea, where Olmedo was the only Spaniard to make the final, only to finish agonizingly out of the medals in fourth.
But that was when his problems began. A serious injury to his groin left him almost “disabled” to use his own words, unable even to swim. “It was a struggle to do anything. It was really hard to go from being European champion and fourth in the World to not being able to run more than two steps. I even thought about retiring.”
His family advised against such a drastic course of action and now he is on the cusp of a new beginning.
“After many years training with Enrique, I felt that the time was right for a change. With Enrique there was an emphasis on mileage, around 150-160km a week, and that’s given me a fantastic core of aerobic endurance. With Johnny the emphasis is on the more technical aspects, which I think at this stage in my career is the right approach.
“I’ve always felt that when an athlete reaches maturity, it’s not so much about quantity as it is about honing one’s abilities, at least for short and middle-distance events.”
When speaking of his objectives, Olmedo isn’t afraid to set the bar high: “My goal for the coming year is to go to the European Outdoors in Zürich and win.
“I could lie and tell you that I would be satisfied with just qualifying, but although it’s always difficult coming back from bad injuries what motivates me is winning – In European competition my objective is to win.”
In the longer term, his objective is to banish his Olympic demons: “Reaching the final of Rio 2016 is another goal of mine.”
But for the time being, Zurich 2014 is the first important step along that road and nothing less than gold will do.