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Anna Hemmings

Finally in the boat for Beijing


It's been a long wait, but I've seen the letter confirming my place at the Olympics. We did our first team selection back in April and the second one in the beginning of May, then the qualification race at the end of May, which feels like ages ago. It's been anxious, but it's been worth it.

We didn't qualify outright so that's why we had to wait. We were told they were 99% sure but, until you get official confirmation and your letter from the BOA congratulating you, it's not a done deal.

That's quite hard but everyone told us to be positive and train on the assumption we'd be on the team. We were given forms to sign and we had our jabs done a couple of weeks ago, so we've been doing all the preparation anyway, but it's great to have that finally nailed.

Anna Hemmings

It's a bit of a relief actually. It feels like the pressure's off - it's really hard to make the team, now this is the fun bit! Competing at an Olympic Games and being part of the British team is an incredible opportunity, I'm really excited and all I can do when I get there is do my best.

I didn't do my best when I went to Sydney for my first Olympics, eight years ago. I had a great time and I learnt a lot but I didn't feel I reached my potential when I was there, so it's great to get a chance to do it again.

Training in Hungary is going well, but I'm not too happy about the snakes in the river. I have a real phobia. I haven't seen any for a couple of days but for the first two or three days, I was not a happy bunny.

It's not as though you can't look - you have to look at the water to see where you're going. There are twigs, bits of branches and strands of weed in the water, and every time you see this little thin thing you think the worst. I have a really bad phobia and as soon as I see something I'm convinced that it's a snake. Nine times out of ten it isn't, but after an hour and a half on the water, I'm happy to get off!

I'm proud to say I'm on the cover of a new book. I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for two years, from 2003 to 2005, and I recovered using a treatment called reverse therapy, which was introduced to me by an employee at my sponsors, Pindar. Since then I've shared my story with various audiences doing motivational speaking, and I was approached by a lady looking to write about positive stories from people who've suffered CFS and recovered.

Anna Hemmings on the cover of a bookShe was looking for a design for her front cover and decided I was a good candidate to appear on it, having gone from the depths of that illness to the top of the world stage in sport. That's confirmation you can be cured and push your body to the limit. You don't have to live a sedentary life, you can go and exert yourself.

Reverse therapy is based on the principle that the hypothalamus, a gland in the brain which controls functions like the immune system and nervous system, becomes overactive, as do the adrenal glands. There are a variety of triggers which produce symptoms of CFS, and reverse therapy tries to find out what those triggers are.

I started treatment in September 2004 and by Christmas I was feeling much better, then by January I was starting to exercise again. For some people it's really quick, for others it takes longer - for me it was changing habits I'd developed over a lifetime and overcoming the fear of the symptoms. It was quite challenging but I got there in the end.

I'm back home while my K2 partner, Jess, is racing at the junior European Championships, which take place at the weekend. She's only 18, she's still a junior and she's defending her European title in the K1 500m.

It'll be her first Olympics in Beijing, and for her to make the Olympics as a junior is incredible. She's done really well and we make a great combination. She's young, ultra-enthusiastic and hugely talented, and I've got the experience - and hopefully the wisdom.

Then I'm back in Hungary for another ten days, and we go to Beijing on 6 August. We're a pretty new crew, we only started racing together at the end of April, so I feel like every time we race we're improving.

We're on an upward curve, but where that will put us when we get to the Olympics, I don't really know. In many ways that is a good thing - we are solely focused on controlling our own performance and not distracted by the things we have no influence over.

To go out there and give it all we have, and come off the water knowing we couldn't have done any better - that is our aim in Beijing. We are tremendously excited and positive but where that will place us we will have to wait and see.

Flatwater canoeist Anna Hemmings, 31, from London, has won a total of 11 World and European Championship medals, nine of them gold, and is competing in her second Olympics in the K2 500m. Her previous diary entries are on 606. Our FAQs should answer any questions you have.


Comments

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  • 1. At 4:26pm on 18 Jul 2008, angiealba23 wrote:

    Congratulations Anna! such an achievement must be an incredible experience for you.

    I'm an aussie reporter, and u have some very popular blogs, one of them fully dedicated to the girls that qualified for the Olympics.

    Im considering to post about you. Please let me know what you think. My site is:

    http://olympicchick.blogspot.com

    Best regards

    Angie Alba

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  • 2. At 02:38am on 19 Jul 2008, Roberto Carlos Alvarez-Galloso wrote:

    For Anna Hemmings: Congratulations on being confirmed for the Olympics. I would also like to say that your discussion about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was interesting. When I studied medicine in the 1980's in the Dominican Republic, there was a lot of discussion about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome [including the causes and symptoms] but the cure was never addressed. Your article and book addressed it. My best wishes for you from Miami Florida.

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  • 3. At 1:33pm on 19 Jul 2008, drjohngreensmith wrote:

    I hope that Canoeist Anna Hemmings wins precious Gold in Beijing but amongst people with M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelits) she has just won base lead.

    The reason is not, exclusively, her fault but, collectively, due to sloppy terminology; unwarranted, illogical deductions and for the want of a definitive diagnostic test for this seriously disabling neurological illness, M.E., which cannot just be written off as either tiredness or depression, or, worst of all, malingering.

    Anna didn't actually say these words (no one ever does) but it reads like this: I was very ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), treated it with Reverse Therapy (or some other treatment) and, now, not only am I cured but exceptionally healthy and enjoying life to the full - sometimes better than my former life.

    Here's the slippery slope of logic: They all erroneously assume that since CFS = M.E. (Despite everyone with M.E. clamouring that it is NOT, until they are blue in the face, from confronting brick wall after brick wall), therefore, Reverse Therapy (or choose from a list of radical alternative treatments, with no scientific evidence, or medical approval, to support them) will do the same for you. And - it gets worse - furthermore, if you have the treatment but remain ill, you can't be positive, or trying hard enough, or somehow not ready for it, or you must actually want to remain ill, perhaps to get the attention it brings.

    We, who have M.E., have heard it all before and I fear we shall hear it again and again, as though we had never said a word, until we are able to prove it with physical evidence, in the same way that illnesses now recognised as having a physical cause, MS for one, once had to do and other, as yet, unknown illnesses will have to do. That is quite an Olympic feat, when you have M.E.

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  • 4. At 9:17pm on 19 Jul 2008, Ollie Williams wrote:

    drjohngreensmith - I work with Anna to create her blog posts for BBC Sport, and spoke with her about CFS when we put this entry together.

    To take a few quotes from your comment:

    "Amongst people with M.E. [Anna] has just won base lead.

    "They all erroneously assume that since CFS = M.E. (Despite everyone with M.E. clamouring that it is NOT, until they are blue in the face, from confronting brick wall after brick wall)...

    "We, who have M.E., have heard it all before and I fear we shall hear it again and again."

    Correct me if I'm wrong - but where in her blog does Anna say CFS is the same as M.E.?

    I'm sure some people do equate the two - and I can't pretend to know enough to properly comment, although I do have a friend with M.E. - but Anna certainly hasn't done in this post.

    And if the treatment she used worked for her, she's entitled to say so - she hasn't claimed it will work for anyone, regardless of their condition.

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  • 5. At 4:40pm on 20 Jul 2008, BootleAde wrote:

    Oliver W - While it is probably true that CFS and ME are different illnesses, the two are equated by British medical authorities and are constantly used interchangeably by press and doctors alike. Indeed, Johnathan Kerr at St Georges Hospital has recently researched genetic types which fall within this equation and believes there to be seven radically different subgroups within this CFS/ME umbrella.

    Thus, it is very sensible that Dr John Greensmith is sceptical of miracle recovery stories. Most longstanding sufferers like myself have tried just about everything, which have either had no effect or made us worse as those currently sanctioned by the NHS have done to me.

    These miracle recovery stories from CFS/ME are the bane of our lives as they often give the impression that those who haven't recovered are either malingering or not trying hard enough. And that there is a cure. There isn't.

    Some people, perhaps 20% or so, get better by themselves. Indeed, it sounds from Anna's story that she was already getting better before she had Reverse Therapy.

    Indeed, like Anna Hemmings, I have also had Reverse Therapy, but it made me even less able to cope with day-to-day living than I am now. Unfortunately, I am not going to the Olympics, nor, most probably will be well enough to watch it most of the time.

    I am happy for her that she has recovered, but these glib, uncritical articles which abound in the press about CFS/ME are harming the rest of the 250,000 with this illness in Britain.

    When will people like Anna start asking for greater research funding in the media for CFS/ME as well as talking about their recoveries?






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