Tears for an untimely injury, Shanti Pereira finds steel to go faster at the Olympics

PARIS – In the media mixed zone at the Stade de France, for a brief while Shanti Pereira is unable to speak because she’s crying. Reporters wait as she composes herself. Everyone understands. You want to bring your best to the Olympic Games and she couldn’t and it’s not her fault. Blame it on luck, circumstance, fate, whatever.

Or, to be precise, on a stress injury in April to the fibula in her right leg.

Her time in the heats of the 100m – not her pet event – on Aug 2 was 11.63,

leaving her 55th out of 72 runners.

“Not great,” she said. “Wish it was a better time. It is what it is”. Her personal best is 11.20 from 2023, her form last year was shining and her momentum was flying. She’d sweated and slogged, and tinkered and trained, to become faster and rise to a higher level, and then this. But injury doesn’t care who you are or where you’re going.

There’s a sign at the US Olympic training centre in Colorado Springs which encapsulates the Olympic journey. “It’s not every four years, it’s every day.” It means each day is precious. It means in a competitive planet each day of weights lifted, muscles forged, confidence gained is crucial. But Pereira’s injury stole a massive eight weeks from her.

So much she had found from 2023, in the

golds won at the SEA Games,

the Asian Championships, the Asian Games, and then injury worked like a brake. It was akin to the clock winding backwards. From 11.20 last year in the 100m, the best she’s done in 2024 is 11.47.

“Very, very unfortunate injury that took me back like a whole eight weeks. That’s just like not being on the track and then having to kind of start from zero again,” she explained. “So we were given very little time. But my coach and I did the best that we could, given the circumstances.”

As she said this, she started to weep.

Athletes find greatness in the small details, they find speed in repetition. But injuries take away all these little things. “I just had to find my mindset again,” she said. “Find that same mindset that I had for the past few years. Especially because last year was so good. So it was coming back from there, just trying to find my rhythm, my groove, because just the nature of the injury just took me back so many steps.”

Fractions matter because so many women run fast. In a morning of bounce and explosion, there are preliminary heats even before round 1. Near the start line the world record blinked on a scoreboard: 10.49. Before the eight heats of round one, 15 runners had season’s bests under 11 seconds. These Games are tough.

There were false starts, a collapsing, screaming runner and Afghanistan’s Kimia Yousofi, who held up a sign later which read “Education, sports, our rights”. In Heat 8, Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith of the Ivory Coast set the fastest time of 10.87. In another heat, a runner came fifth and raised her arms in joy. There were eight season’s bests, four personal bests and four national records. It was a day of many triumphs but also quiet mourning.

But Pereira is made of stern stuff, a diligently forged steel which brought her so far and will sustain her through Paris. Even on their hard days, athletes find a way to clutch on to positivity. Hope is the only rope to hold onto.

“It was tough, for sure,” she said, “but it’s okay. I’m still here. I still managed to show up in Paris and really get a chance to give my best in two events. I also managed to qualify for two events. So I’m very happy about that. I can’t do anything about the time just now, so I really just have to take the positives from whatever it is.”

The 100m anyway was not her focus but running it gave her a chance to sample the purple track which she loved. “Prep” is what she called it. “Just like getting that first race out. I have the privilege to be able to do that. Just experience the whole atmosphere and just the whole race experience.”

Pereira’s speed brought her to Paris and on Sunday, Aug 4, are the 200m heats. Like the 100m, she’s earned herself a place in the field. If there’s pressure, it will come from herself. “Just wanting to be able to deliver on this stage,” she said. “It’s just my expectations.” The faster she goes, she knows, the further she leaves a hard year behind.