Competing while less than 100% fit

Chizz

Bert Trautman famously played on despite injuring his neck so badly that even the magic sponge wasn't fully restorative. But his injury took place while competing. What is more remarkable is the success of competitors who started an event despite not being fully 'fit' to begin with. 

Are there any tales of sportsmen and women who entered an event without full fitness, yet flourished? 

This was brought to mind after the remarkable achievement of the athlete Aminat Idrees, who has just completed in Taekwondo at the Nigerian national sports festival. The 26 year old year old won the gold medal despite being eight months pregnant. 

SheffieldRed

remarkable or irresponsible?

cafcfan1990

SheffieldRed said:

remarkable or irresponsible?

To be clear it wasnt the combat side of taekwondo. Not sure I find it aspiring but she wasnt fighting and letting people kick her in the stomach. 

Lincsaddick

according to a lot of (mainly ex) pro footballers .. it's unusual to be fully 100% fit and/or sober when they play/played

JohnfromNorfolk

Lincsaddick said:

according to a lot of (mainly ex) pro footballers .. it's unusual to be fully 100% fit and/or sober when they play/played

I listened to an interview with Mark Rivers who played for Norwich city in the early 2000s.
He was moaning about the amount of injuries modern players seem to pick up.
He said considering the amount of sports science in the modern game, he was surprised the frequency of injuries'. 
He said in his day the training regimes were less intense and players often played being less than 100% and many played the whole season injury free.

He wasn't the best of wingers and the footballers were not the athletes they are today.
Has he got a point?
I'm not near enough to the professional game to make a judgement.  
     

DOUCHER

i think they over train and are playing at the limits of what their bodies will take and hence break down more often - like a highly tuned racing car.  

JohnfromNorfolk

DOUCHER said:

i think they over train and are playing at the limits of what their bodies will take and hence break down more often - like a highly tuned racing car.  

I think you are probably correct but why with all the sports science and technology would a club over train their valuable assets risking losing them for long periods.  

DOUCHER

JohnfromNorfolk said:

DOUCHER said:

i think they over train and are playing at the limits of what their bodies will take and hence break down more often - like a highly tuned racing car.  

I think you are probably correct but why with all the sports science and technology would a club over train their valuable assets risking losing them for long periods.  

they have to if everybody else is - they just have bigger squads / more spares 

Raith_C_Chattonell

JohnfromNorfolk said:

Lincsaddick said:

according to a lot of (mainly ex) pro footballers .. it's unusual to be fully 100% fit and/or sober when they play/played

I listened to an interview with Mark Rivers who played for Norwich city in the early 2000s.
He was moaning about the amount of injuries modern players seem to pick up.
He said considering the amount of sports science in the modern game, he was surprised the frequency of injuries'. 
He said in his day the training regimes were less intense and players often played being less than 100% and many played the whole season injury free.

He wasn't the best of wingers and the footballers were not the athletes they are today.
Has he got a point?
I'm not near enough to the professional game to make a judgement.  
     

I suppose we should take account of the old time players who were kept going by the over use of Cortisone injections.  Many suffered long term problems through playing on injuries masked by this drug.