Former triathlete Vanessa Raw has backed Team GB’s next generation to succeed at this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Raw, who was born in Hexham, had often come close to competing at the games on several occasions but was forced to retire due to a string of injuries in 2016.

The 36-year-old was a regular frontrunner in triathlon competitions around the world and is now a full-time artist working in Earlsfield, London, after graduating from Loughborough University back in 2009.

“I was close to going to the Olympics a few times, but then got injured just before,” said Raw.

“It was hard for me, because it was just relentless. One after the other – I recovered once, was back training for a few days and then got injured again.”

“It was very hard and I began to lose trust in my own body. I just so underperformed to my potential,” she added.

“It is very frustrating. Every time I was injured I was like ‘another year, another year, another year’, but actually I just wanted to go and do my art.

“But I felt like I wanted to get somewhere near my potential before I quit, and I never felt like I did. It was one of those unfinished tasks. It was very frustrating.”

The former athlete also sufferers from hypermobility syndrome, which effects how flexible the body’s joints are, and she admitted that could be one of the reasons for her failure into making in to the games.

“Maybe being hypermobile I was just never going to be a good runner and it wasn’t meant to be,” added Raw.

“Maybe I was just trying for something and actually, it’s just one of those things.

“That is my biggest problem – I need to stop looking back and just look forward. We can’t just keep having regrets – it doesn’t get us anywhere, does it?

“I would have liked to fulfil what I could have done earlier and then quit, in an ideal world. But we can’t keep looking back.”

Despite her own disappointment, Raw believes that this summer’s team have an excellent chance of success following the growth of the sport after both the London games in 2012 and in Rio in 2016.

“British Triathlon’s team is in the best shape it’s ever been,” said Raw.

“They have so many good competitors. We’re one of the top teams in the world now and we’re doing so well. I’m really looking forward to them competing.”

“Georgia Taylor-Brown is brilliant. To be honest, I think the girl’s teams are doing even better than the men’s. They have so many at the top, which is really tough because only three people can go to the Olympics.

“In any other decade, the ones who are fifth, sixth and seventh would have gone to the Olympics and stood a good chance. But they’ve just got all the top girls at the moment.”

The Tokyo Olympics had been set to take place last summer, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced the games to be postponed until 2021.

Vanessa Raw is working with Purplebricks to encourage the nation to get behind Team GB on their journey to Tokyo, with the same amazing home support as London 2012.

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