What Rudisha now faces after ankle surgery

Two-time Olympic 800 metres champion and world record holder David Rudisha begins yet another long journey to recovery today after undergoing surgery on Thursday to repair a fractured ankle.

The 31-year-old star (pictured) had to go under the knife at the St Luke’s Hospital in Eldoret for a successive surgery after a freak accident while walking at his Kilgoris home last week.

The Olympic champion’s management — One4One Sports Marketing and Management — tweeted that Rudisha sustained the injury by twisting his left ankle while at his rural home in Narok County on May 19.

“During a walk on his compound, the 31-year-old stepped on uneven ground and initially believed it was not a serious injury,” the statement said.

“He continued with training that would cause further harm on his ankle, but after lack of improvement over the weekend he underwent an examination and was diagnosed with an ankle fracture at St Luke’s Hospital in Eldoret.”

According to his doctor, Victor Bargoria, who is also one of Kenyan’s lead doctors to the Tokyo Olympics, Rudisha suffered a  “Supination-External Rotation” which he fixed with a 1/3 tubular plate and 3.5 millimetre screws.

The statement further said that Rudisha should be out for training for up to four months. “The bones have to come together, heal and then rehabilitation of the muscles starts along with flexibility,” Bargoria explained last night. “It’s first the healing, then the strength and later fitness before trying to be competitive.”

Bargoria said there’s a possibility of Rudisha being discharged today, saying that although rehabilitation will be “a tough phase”, Rudisha is an astute professional and would be able to handle the situation.

The successive surgery at St Luke’s Hospital is also a huge plus for Kenyan medicine with Bargoria observing that the country has great professional medics who are respected the world over.

“Kenya has good professionals and medical personnel. You go around the world and you see Kenyans (medics) practicing. We need to have faith in our system and our professionals.”

During the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Rudisha stopped the clock in one minute, 40.91 seconds, breaking the world record time previously held by Danish Wilson Kipketer time of 1:41.11.

On Thursday night, Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed wished Rudisha a quick recovery. “David Rudisha is one of Kenya’s greatest ambassadors and it’s sad to see him get injured just when he was gathering momentum, ready to claim his third Olympic gold in Tokyo. I wish him well and pray for his quick recovery,” Amina said.