On Eve of Games' Opener, Matheson '08 Shares View from London

On the eve of the Canadian women's soccer team's first competition of the 2012 Olympic Games, Princeton alumna Diana Matheson '08 shares the Olympic experience from her perspective:

It's been a bit of a long road this time around to get to my second Olympics. I've always been pretty lucky in terms of injuries in my career, and this year I've had to come back from the longest time I've ever spent away from the field.

In November I had a scope done for a nagging knee issue that had been bothering me for quite some time, and came out of it with micro-fracture surgery for some torn cartilage. This involved putting tiny fractures into the bone, to re-injure it so that scar tissue will form to take the place of the missing cartilage. I had gone into the surgery hoping for a few stitches in my meniscus and a six-week recovery at most; unfortunately the recovery time turned out to be around six months.

The longer recovery meant that I was on the sidelines for the Olympic qualifying tournament that was hosted by Canada at the end of January. Fortunately though, I was able to travel to Vancouver and be with the team for the tournament. It turns out that our parents were not lying all these years when they said watching was stressful; I think I have a few grey hairs already! (Although maybe that's just genetics.) It was a much different vantage point cheering the team on and not being able to influence anything on field, but the girls had a great tournament and successfully qualified for London before falling to the U.S. in the final. It was definitely disappointing to not be able to play at home though; I have been on the team for a decade and it would have been my first tournament on home soil.

After we'd qualified I returned home to continue my rehab. The most difficult thing about the recovery was the amount of rest it required. I think it's easy for any athlete to get out there and work hard, and do everything possible to get back. What's not easy is to sit, and rest, and to not push. I had to be patient, and wait, and then wait some more. What made it hardest of all was that from the beginning my surgeon had given me no guarantees. No guarantee that my knee would heal fully, or that the pain would totally go away, or even that the swelling would go down. Fortunately I had a fantastic athletic therapist and my family at home in Toronto to help get me healthy and keep me sane, and eventually my knee did start to feel better.

In the end I was able to get back on the field around six months after the surgery, and joined up with the National team at the end of April. This meant a move to Vancouver, where the team was living and training together full-time in preparation for the Olympics.

Vancouver was a great environment and our coaches and staff did good job of putting everything together. We were lucky to live right downtown, and our training locations were not too far away. We also did most of our strength work at the Richmond Oval, one of the venues that helped host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. If you ever get the chance to visit Vancouver, I highly recommend it as it is a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains on one side and the ocean on the other.

From April until July we were based out of Vancouver, with short times away for international matches or a few days off. In July we then packed up and headed to Europe. We spent two weeks in the Swiss Alps for our final preparations and our last friendly games before the Olympics.

Finally, July 18th we headed to London! We spent our first few days in the Athletes' Village, soaking in the atmosphere and collecting free stuff. We also had a day off to relax and enjoy London and all its beautiful sights. The city looks great, with the Olympic spirit in full force around the city. Everyone was sure to get a shot of the giant rings on Tower Bridge.

Now, we're all settled into our hotel in Coventry, where our first two games will be played. We start off the tournament on July 25th against the World Champions Japan, followed by a game against South Africa on the 28th. We then head up to Newcastle for our final group game against Sweden (Our head coach grew up in Newcastle and is beyond excited to be playing at St. James Park!). As long as we get out of our tough group we could then be off to any of the four venues for the quarter-finals.
Needless to say the whole team is excited for the tournament to get going, and I am very much looking forward to experiencing my second Olympics. Off the pitch it will be interesting to see how London does hosting the games and trying to compete with the amazing spectacle that Beijing put on. It looks like they are already on their way to doing a great job! On the field we are looking to get Canada's best ever finish at the Games. First though, we have to get out of our tough group, and this start Wednesday against Japan!

Thanks for reading!
Diana

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results