RIO DE JANIERO — The low point of Brittney Reese’s career came in 2013, when a torn hip labrum forced the three-time Olympian to undergo surgery and, one year after winning long-jump gold at the London Games, contemplate retirement.
Retirement didn’t come, but the worst wasn’t over: Reese, 29, rushed back from that surgery and struggled, leading her to further doubt her ability to maintain a medal-winning level in international competition.
“I feel like the hip injury really messed me up because I know what I’m capable of,” Reese said. “To see myself not make a podium, to see myself not make a final, to see myself not even jump 7 meters really put me in a bad position.