Australia breaststroker Chelsea Hodges retires with ‘hips of 60-year-old’
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Australia's Chelsea Hodges celebrates on the podium with her bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MELBOURNE – Australian swimmer Chelsea Hodges, who helped the nation claim the women’s 4x100 metres medley relay gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, has retired from the sport at the age of 22 after struggling with injuries.
She swam the breaststroke leg of the medley relay final in 2021 alongside Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown and Cate Campbell, as Australia pipped the United States for the title.
The Queenslander had hoped to swim one last Games with Australia’s “Dolphins” in Paris this summer but decided not to risk her quality of life and nursing career after multiple hip surgeries.
“I had my first hip operation at 15... and another one last year. I actually have the hips of a 60-year-old,” she said in a Swimming Australia statement on May 24, adding that she had “no more breaststroke kicks left”.
“I wanted one last chance at the Games but after six cortisone injections, I had to make a decision on my future. I know this decision means I can continue working in my career as a nurse, where I am on my feet all day.
“And hopefully, all things going to plan, run on the beach with my kids. I’ll still be cheering on the Dolphins in Paris and can’t wait to see how the team goes.”
Australian head coach Rohan Taylor said Hodges would remain with Swimming Australia as an “assistant to performance support”.
“She persevered for so long to make Paris possible and she went so close, so it is with mixed emotions that I congratulate Chelsea on her wonderful career,” he added.
Hodges’ retirement two weeks out from national Olympic trials leaves swimming power Australia without their third-fastest 100m breaststroker of all time (1min 5.99sec).
Only the retired duo of Leisel Jones and Sarah Katsoulis posted quicker times.
With Hodges battling fitness problems since Tokyo, Australia have struggled for depth in women’s breaststroke.
In February, Abbey Harkin swam the breaststroke leg in a modest 1:07.21 as Australia beat a weak field for the 4x100m medley relay title at the World Championships in Doha.
However, the Australians were a distant second behind the powerful US team at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, where American Lilly King’s breaststroke split of 1:04.93 was two seconds quicker than Harkin’s. REUTERS, AFP
