Athletics | Wilma Murto read her competitor's harsh words – “Very few say it out loud”

Turku

Wilma Murtoappeared in a good mood on Wednesday in front of the media to talk about the pole vaulting competition organized in Turku.

The reigning European pole vault champion and World Championship bronze medalist is happy with the start of the season for a reason. Plakkari already has a new Finnish record, 481, which he broke in Kuortane as an epiphany.

However, the life of an athlete is not just moments of joy and awards. Recently, a rare direct opening was heard on the subject Athletics Weekly -magazine, in which Murro's competitive sister and friend, a British pole vaulter, had been interviewed Holly Bradshaw.

Bradshaw, 32,'s career highlight came at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where she captured the bronze medal with a score of 485.

However, in the interview he gave to the magazine, he says that the medal does not compensate for all the trauma and damage he has caused himself while trying to succeed.

“The background of the medal is my meticulous approach to everything for 10 years. It included monitoring my sleep and heart rate, weighing my food and myself, and the resulting frequent weight loss. I have restricted many things in my life for years,” he said.

The Olympic medal is not the only prestigious competition medal for the Briton, as he has, among other things, won the European indoor track championship and won bronze at the European Championships.

In the interview, Bradshaw ponders whether a healthy lifestyle has become unhealthy as it continues.

“The pursuit of an Olympic medal has damaged me physically and mentally. Is there even so much that there is no going back?”

He also wonders if he knows who he really is outside of sports.

“I tell my husband that I don't know who I really am. When I'm done, who will I be? You've only known me as athlete Holly. What if I'm a completely different person?”

Murto tells having read Bradshaw's interview. It had awakened many kinds of thoughts in him, after all, the athletes have known each other for a long time and trained together.

“The interview raised a lot of thoughts, especially since I know him very well and we have always talked a lot. Of course, when you know how his career has gone after the Olympic medal, I completely understand his feelings.”

Wilma Murto and Holly Bradshaw trained together in Pajulahti in 2018. Picture: Jukka Gröndahl / HS

Bradshaw has had some bad luck since the Tokyo Olympics. In 2022, Britti was injured in the warm-up of the final of the World Championships in Eugene, when his blade broke. He suffered injuries to his arm, back and rear thigh. The hamstring injury worsened just a few weeks later at the Commonwealth Games.

In April 2023, Bradshaw injured his Achilles tendon, but managed to rehabilitate for the World Championships, where the result was modest.

Burglary has certainly had his share of injuries. In the spring of 2017, he had a back injury, after which he began to suffer from mysterious pains in the soles of his feet. They only subsided in the spring of 2018. Murto also had to miss the indoor season in 2022 when he broke his metatarsal in a race in France.

“Holly is certainly not the only athlete who thinks like that, but very few say it out loud. I'm proud of her for saying what she thinks. On the other hand, it's sad that she's had such thoughts when her career has been really great, at least mine to my eyes.”

Wilma Murto says that she is happy that she can do sports as a profession. Picture: Vesa-Matti Wrong

Murto appreciates the fact that he still finds his everyday life as an athlete meaningful.

“I'm happy that I can think that even if I don't win anything anymore, this is still really grateful. I'm really happy that I get to do this. I hope that idea remains, and I try to do things in such a way that the joy and gratitude in doing things remain.”