Diving into recovery

OLYMPIC DIVER Yona Knight-Wisdom’s road to recovery has not been typical. Not only has the diver called it rewarding, but says the process has opened his eyes to the possibilities of doing more to raise the local profile of the sport.

Knight-Wisdom was in Jamaica recently for the brief visit of International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, as he continues his recovery from a knee injury suffered last December which required surgery.

With the operation successful, Knight-Wisdom described his rehab process as positive in the three months since then. According to the diver, the process has only served to re-energise his commitment to returning to full strength as quickly as possible.

“My diving coach has been very impressed with the way that I have recovered so far. But I have enjoyed the process and it has allowed me to think about some of the things outside of diving. It has reaffirmed my commitment to the sport,” Knight-Wisdom told The Gleaner.

“Because I have been busy ever since the injury happened. My focus was on how can I get back as quickly as possible. What can I do? How hard can I work without trying to do too much at the same time?”

It has also allowed him to take advantage of other opportunities outside of the pool.

“That is kind of why I have enjoyed the process a little bit more than expected when you get a serious injury,” Knight-Wisdom said.

“I tried to find things outside of diving that I enjoy and this has shown me how to make a good job of that.”

Those things include helping his national teammate Yohan Eskrick-Parkinson through his journey, having helped to coach him in his Pan American Games qualifying event last month in Mexico.

In addition to continuing his rehab, Knight-Wisdom was also laying the groundwork to get support for his vision to help Jamaica’s diving programme flourish.

“He (Yohan) got on quite well out there. He had some good performances. He didn’t get an automatic qualification spot but he is in with a good chance of getting into the Pan American Games. We just have to wait until August to know for sure,” Knight-Wisdom said.

“I got to do a little bit of networking because with my whole intention in developing diving in Jamaica, it was important to know a few people there and that could potentially help me in that process.”

Knight-Wisdom is hoping for a return to competition in two months with the World Aquatics Championships in Japan in July, his first opportunity to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics next year.

“We built the quad muscle, the hamstring muscle. From there it is slowly building back to doing as many drills as possible as well as the basic dives in the water. So that is positive in making that part of my diving and then from there, slowly reintroducing jumping into what I do and just building the strength as quickly as possible.”

daniel.wheeler@gleanerm.com