At the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona, Carolina Kluft, the only athlete ever to win three world heptathlon titles, reached the women’s long jump final.
What makes this such remarkable achievement is that, just a year earlier, Kluft suffered what she considered the worst setback of her career with a ruptured hamstring. Following surgery in summer 2009, Kluft had to endure six months of intensive rehabilitation before she could make her competitive return as a wild card in the Swedish team. Quite understandably, and despite ultimately finishing 11th overall in Barcelona, she considered her performance “a big victory: one year ago I was on crutches.”
