Richard Murray Withdraws from Olympic Triathlon Men’s Event
Two-time Olympian Richard Murray, one of the athletes considered a medal contender at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics has revealed on his Twitter account that he will not be doing the individual men’s event at the Tokyo Games and will just partake in the Mixed Relay for Team South Africa.
Early this year, Murray was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation a heart condition that involves an irregular and rapid heart rate due to abnormal electrical impulses in the upper chambers of the heart. Having undergone heart surgery on June 15th, Murray was back on the training circuit two weeks later. His recovery was progressing well enough for him to gain Olympic selection for Team South African.
However, Murray concluded on his Twitter account that “My health / heart is not ready for a 2h event, and will focus on the relay. I find this important for our Team. This was a very tough call to make, but something I find is wise for my health”.
Murray will now focus on the Team Relay on July 31st hoping to medal with his team-mates Henri Schoeman, Gillian Sanders and Simone Ackermann.
This will be double-edged sword for Murray. He has recovered remarkably quickly to even make the Olympics, but will, nonetheless, be tinged with disappointment not to be able to better his Rio performance where he finished 4th and medal at Tokyo in the individual event. Particularly as after the Olympics were postponed to 2021, Murray posted some amazing individual running splits in his training and build up to the Games this year.
TriNation were lucky enough to chat with Richard on his 13.37 5km PB back in May this year (see below).
