Athletics: Long jumper Sreeshankar out of 2024 Olympics – ‘In what feels like a nightmare, but is a reality, my Paris dream is over’

Sreeshankar Murali’s dream of competing at the 2024 Olympic Games is over as the long-jumper said a knee injury suffered during training requires surgery.

“All my life, I’ve had the courage to look at a setback in the eye, accept situations I can’t change, and work hard at dictating the outcomes of those I can. Unfortunately, in what feels like a nightmare, but is a reality, my Paris Olympic Games dream is over,” Sreeshankar posted on Instragram.

With less than 100 days to go for Paris 2024, Sreeshankar is the sole long jumper to have made the automatic cut in men’s long jump. At Asian Athletics Championships, Supachalasai National Stadium, Bangkok in July last year, Sreeshankar clinched silver with a best jump of 8.37m, going past the automatic qualification mark of 8.27m.

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“I suffered a knee injury during training on Tuesday, and all the tests and consultations later, it’s been decided that I would need surgery, ruling me out of the one single thing I have chased relentlessly all these years,” the 25-year-old said.

Sreeshankar, sliver medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, had a memorable 2023 season during which he finished second at the Hangzhou Asian Games apart from the aforementioned silver in Bangkok. The Kerala athlete made the cut for 2020 Olympics too but had a tough time in Tokyo before bouncing back in subsequent seasons. At the 2022 World Championships, he qualified for the final in Oregon.

“To wake up healthy every single day, and watch yourself get into the best shape of your life, is every athlete’s dream. I was living it, until this incident. Life writes strange scripts, and sometimes there is courage in accepting it and moving on. That’s what I will do. My journey to a comeback began the minute I injured my knee This road is going to be long, difficult and will take a lot out of me. The good thing is, I have a lot to give. I will overcome this, because that’s what Mamba Mentality is all about,” Sreeshankar wrote.

So far, in track and field events, only Sreeshankar, Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Kumar Jena (men’s javelin) had attained automatic qualification from India.

“I will need your prayers, love and positive energy. I may jump alone, but it takes a collective push before every leap. This is my biggest one yet,” he signed off.

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