Achy, breaky body parts a fact of life for Canada's Olympic athletes
CBC
One body part, or a few, in athletes' bodies endure a lot of strain and overuse while training and competing for Canada.
Athletes bound for the Olympic Games in Paris reveal which body part their sport is hardest on.
Avalon Wasteneys, Campbell River, B.C., rowing:
"If you're racing, the area of your body that hurts the most probably is your legs. The body parts that maybe suffer the most injury from rowing could be your ribs. Rib fractures are just a really chronic common injury that athletes get through rowing."
Sarah Mitton, Brooklyn, N.S., shot put:
"It'd be almost surprising to know that you actually don't throw it with your arm. I'm not like Popeye. I don't just have this one big bicep arm, as much as I kind of wish I did. That would be a cool piece. About 80 per cent of the throw comes from your legs. You create so much speed and force from the ground up."
WATCH | Did Sarah Mitton almost leave shot put behind?
Eric Peters, Kitchener, Ont., archery:
"Definitely your back and your shoulders. You pull the bow back with your back and you hold the bow up with your shoulders. We spend a lot of time standing in one place, so your feet can get a little tired, but it's your back and shoulders really doing the work."
Natalie Achonwa, Guelph, Ont., basketball:
"Especially basketball and women's basketball, knees are always a thing. It's a jumping sport and an agile sport. It's an impact sport. In my senior year of college, I actually had an ACL tear meniscus, I almost blew up knee, so it's definitely something that I'm very conscious of, building glutes, hamstrings, quads, everything to protect that structure."
WATCH | Natalie Achonwa on her 4th Olympic Games:
Phil (Wizard) Kim, Vancouver, breaking:
"There are actually some specific ones, like a lot of little muscles that you use that are easy to damage, for example, the wrists. There's a lot of wrist issues within breaking, myself included. Shoulders are a big one because it's a lot of upper body as well as your knees because at least the way I dance, I bash my knees a lot. My ankles as well because I do kind of weird things with my ankles."
