IF there is a single person on this planet who instinctively understands the dilemma facing Laura Muir ahead of this April’s Commonwealth Games then it must be Hayley Haining. Barring the unlikeliest 11th hour change of heart, Muir will skip the chance to compete for a gold medal in the Gold Coast showpiece to complete the final year of her degree in veterinary medicine at the Glasgow vet school.
While Scotland has other chances of a track and field medal besides, not everyone is so inclined to be understanding about the 1500m medal hope’s decision. But Haining, who finished ninth then 13th for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games marathons of Melbourne 2006 and Glasgow 2014, not to mention being a veterinary pathologist and tutor to Muir at vet school, believes the 24-year-old from Milnathort is correct to chart out her dual careers as she sees fit. She will take as much pride from seeing her star student graduate this summer as she would from seeing her pass her latest athletics examination with flying colours. And life, you might say, is a marathon not a sprint.
“I was injured from early in my second year through to the start of my final year,” Haining told Herald Sport. “A life in athletics was quite different really back then, because this was about 20-odd years ago. There was no lottery funding and while that injury was hard at the time, because I was out for three years, I was able to focus on trying to get better again as well as my studies.
“If an athlete misses a major event through injury then that is very hard to take,” Haining added. “Because that will have been in their goals for a while and then they have to step away due to injury. But when it is a planned situation, like Laura for her final year, if that has been in our plans, she will be at peace with that.
“It is similar to how Paula Radcliffe took a couple of years out to have children. You often find that with athletes, the OIympic cycle is a four-year cycle and they will often put plans in place for something like family time just after an Olympics, just some time to be themselves, rather than just this manic, travelling around the world, competing. Otherwise when they get to major championships they are kind of held together because they are training so hard and competing all the time. So they make a conscious decision to rein it all back a little bit and do some housekeeping. It is a similar thing Laura is doing here, saying ‘I’ve had this amazing three years, busy busy, doing my studies plus competing, but I have this final year to do so that is what I’m doing’.
“Final year is a huge milestone in a vet’s career. You have to remember there is the five years of studying and years built in just to get there. It does mean a lot to students and their families. It is very important for athletes to strike a balance.
“Laura is still a young woman, assuming she stays healthy there will be other big events to come up. Who knows how things will pan out but I am a great believer that education is very important. Whenever I see her, I always wish her good health. Because as long as she has got that, we can all just sit back and watch what happens next!”
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