There has been quite a furor over the early departure of Fiona O’Keeffe, US, who won the U.S. Olympic Trials on February 3, 2024. Fiona O’Keeffe was obviously in pain from the start of her marathon sojourn. There had been rumors of a US marathoner being injured as Jess McClain, 4th in the 10,000m and marathon, was called about to visit Paris.
Fiona O’Keeffe’s premature withdrawal before the 5k mark is not unprecedented. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Deena Kastor, a 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, was forced to drop out due to a late injury. Similarly, Magda Lewy did not finish in Beijing, with only Blake Russell managing to complete the race (finishing 23rd). The trend continued in the 2012 London Olympics, where Shalane Flanagan finished 9th, Kara Goucher 10th, and Des Linden dropped out. In Rio 2016, Shalane Flanagan finished 6th, Des Linden 7th, and Amy Cragg 9th. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics saw Molly Seidel clinching the Olympic bronze medal, Sally Kipyego finishing 17th, and Aliphine Tuliamuk not finishing.
This is Fiona’s interview with her management team, KIMBIA. We thank Fiona O’Keefe and KIMBIA for providing the context on her DNF and wish her a speedy recovery.
KIMBIA, #1, How did the lead-in to Paris go for you?
Fiona O’Keeffe: For the last five weeks or so leading into it, we got in a really solid training block at Mammoth Lakes. I was logging good marathon mileage, getting in good long runs, and getting ready for the hills. I was feeling good about the training and where I was at. Things weren’t perfect, but they never were, and it was a good body of work that I was happy with.
KIMBIA, #2, When did the issue arise?
Fiona O’Keeffe: I did my last real track workout on Friday (August 2), and that was a good workout. I felt strong, with no issues, and then on Saturday, on my run, I started tightening my left hip. I didn’t overthink it, but the following Sunday, it was worse during the run. I was supposed to run 90 minutes, but I ran 80. I thought, OK, we’re just being smart. But then walking around the rest of the day didn’t feel very good, so that’s when it started. We decided to come back to Paris. We were up in Strasbourg. We returned to see the doctors and physio and tried to prepare for the race.
KIMBIA, #3, What did they tell you?
Fiona O’Keeffe: That’s the thing that’s a little confusing. It feels like nobody’s been able to pinpoint it so far. I’ve seen several different people, and the Physios seem to mainly think it was an issue of how my hips were aligned. I had an ongoing tight calf, possibly compensation because it was the opposite. That’s the best explanation I’ve been able to get. Later in the week, I saw the USATF doctor and got an MRI done. Their read on the MRI was that there was no evidence of muscular damage or anything in the bone. So, going off that information, it was like: OK, based on our information, there’s not going to be further damage from running on it, so we may as well try and see what’s possible.
KIMBIA, #4, On those final days, were you able to run?
Fiona O’Keeffe: I could run some. It was not pain-free, but I got a couple more treatments. The last one was Friday morning, and I felt quite a bit better walking out of that office, so we were thinking: OK, we’ll take the rest of Friday off and see how that treatment settles. Hopefully, it sets in overnight. Then, the next day, we’ll run, and hopefully, we’re good to go. So I did run Saturday morning, just a couple of miles, and it wasn’t perfect, honestly. But the deadline to declare or not for the race was Friday evening. The deadline had passed, and it would have been too late to sub in an alternate at that stage, and I was like: OK, if this is a nerve or something, maybe it’ll respond, and I’ll wake up on race morning, and it’ll settle down a little way into the race, or perhaps I’ll wake up, and it’ll feel different. I didn’t want to have that regret of not having tried and not having given myself a chance.
KIMBIA, #5, How were you feeling on the morning of the race and in the race?
Fiona O’Keeffe: It was excruciating. It felt like my body wouldn’t let me run the way I needed to from the get-go. I did a short warm-up and didn’t feel like there was much point in continuing on if I couldn’t compete effectively. I think I made it about a mile into the race, and we knew it was possible I would drop out; I thought I’d do it a little later on if so, but it was trying to make an intelligent call for the day and the upcoming months.
KIMBIA, #6, What’s your next step from here?
Fiona O’Keeffe: I need to figure out what exactly is going on with my body because I feel like I don’t have the answers. I need to know what the best treatment approach is. After a marathon, I was going to take time off now anyway, so it’s a good time to reset and start assessing how I can train better in the future to get to the start line fully healthy and ready to go.
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