On the back of medical advice Commonwealth Games silver medallist Kelly Edwards’ Rio Olympic qualification dreams are over due to several concussions sustained over the last few months.

Edwards explained “I landed badly on my head in Mongolia, and had a headache afterwards that wouldn’t go, but I just put it down to jet lag as I had been travelling and competing so much to gain the vital competition points to qualify for Rio. However, I saw the team physio who told me I had all the symptoms of concussion and we agreed I should take two weeks off to rest and recover.”

Edwards returned to competition at the end of August 2015 for the World Championships, however a bad landing during a fight at the Tashkent Grand Prix in October, led to more symptoms and after competing at the Lisbon European Open she took two months off competition.

During this time she saw a Neurologist and had scans to determine the extent of any injury and to ensure there was no underlying issue, before returning to training again just before Christmas without any problems occurring.   

The first international competition of 2016 was held in Cuba during January, where Edwards fought well without any sign of the concussion. However, two weeks later at the Paris Grand Slam, the British athlete suffered another blow to her head and all the symptoms returned and following this, the decision was been made that in order to fully recover from the head injury, she must take six months away from competition.  

Edwards said:

“When I was given the advice of the medical team I was devastated as it meant my Rio Olympic dream was over. However, I’ve read a number of articles about concussion and the long term effects since I was first diagnosed and I now understand that I do need this time to heal.”

“I have to accept that as an athlete, I will get injuries and this is just another injury and whilst I would have loved to represent my country in Rio, I shall come back stronger and better after a six-month block of good training and I am excited about the long term future and will be focused on the 2017 World Championships in Budapest.”