Lisa Dobriskey hopes to send the Olympic stadium crowd nuts in the 1500m tonight after revealing the snack she eats to gee herself up before races – a handful of cashews.
If Dobriskey were to win a medal, it would represent one of the most remarkable turnarounds of these Games. The Kent athlete was diagnosed with blood clots on her lungs earlier this year and was told to take six months off by her specialist. Yet Dobriskey decided to reject the advice and will now compete in an Olympic final. She revealed in a recent interview that cashews were her secret weapon before competitions and admitted that her main goal will be to ensure she remains calm on the start line.
“Before the semi-final, I was stressed all day,” she said. “I just wanted to make an Olympic final and I’m so pleased that I managed to do that. The worst case scenario usually is that you could fracture a bone or tear a muscle, but at one point it was looking as though I was going to have to stop completely.
“Fortunately, there was a positive result from the tests and I was able to carry on training.
“Last year was such a difficult one for me but I never lost faith in my ability to reach the Olympics. I always held on to that dream.
“All the rehab, countless hours in the pool, on the bike, on the underwater treadmill, every piece of equipment you can imagine — I couldn’t waste that investment. I couldn’t throw it away. That was driving me all the time.”
Dobriskey is joined in the final by Laura Weightman, who is coached by 1984 Olympic silver-medallist and BBC commentator Steve Cram.
“I couldn’t have wanted anything more than what I got in the semi-final: a personal best and a place in the final,” she said.
Live on BBC1, 8.55pm
