'I pulled my hamstring six times'- Gail Devers narrates encounter with life-threatening disease that almost ended her career prematurely

The three-time Olympic champion overcame a years-long struggle with an undiagnosed disease, eventually returning to dominate the track with multiple Olympic and World Championship titles.

American sprint legend Gail Devers has opened up about her greatest adversity in the sport being an illness that tormented her for close to three years.

Speaking on the Ready Set Go podcast with Justin Gatlin and Rodney Green, Gail Devers revealed that she was diagnosed with Graves' disease and underwent radioactive iodine treatment followed by thyroid hormone replacement therapy. Her diagnosis came after close to two and a half years of thinking she was crazy after noticing the tons of changes in her body.

The three-time Olympic champion revealed that she started losing weight drastically, her hair was also falling off and she did not know what was happening to her body. It was quite alarming for her since she was just starting her career and was fresh from breaking the American record in the women’s 100m hurdles.

She qualified for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul but was eliminated in the semifinal, something that was extremely unexpected since she had been in great shape in the build-up to the US trials. At the trials, her then-coach, Bob Kersee, advised that she avoid doubling in the 100m and 100m hurdles and she chose to compete in the latter.

“My illness was the biggest thing that I had to overcome because when my career started in 1988, 1987, I was supposed to be at the top of my game and ready to do what I had to do, and kind of the bottom falls out at that time. I started losing weight and my hair was falling out, not that I cut it but at that time it was falling out,” Gail Devers said.

“I could not understand that because I had just broken the American record in May of 1988 and with my goals, I knew that I was going to peak and then go for the Nationals and go to college because that was my senior year in college.

“I got to Seoul and then I told people, my bottom fell off. I got there and I couldn’t make the final and I ran slower than I had ever run before. I didn’t know why but something was wrong, I knew I was losing weight but I didn’t know why. Even at the trials, Bobby and I had this come-to-Jesus talk and he told me I was not going to make it in both.”

The five-time world champion noted that she could not look at herself in the mirror following the tons of weight she had lost and ended up locking herself in the house to avoid interacting with people who would bombard her with all sought of questions.

Gail Devers added that she wanted to reign from her training camp and take a step back to seek medical attention but Bob Kersee would not agree to that as he wanted her around and as a family, they helped where they could.

At that point, doctors had told her there was nothing wrong with her health and even questioned whether she was feeling unwell. Going to training became difficult because she could easily get injured.

“I don’t fall off that much and the doctors were telling me there was nothing wrong and that maybe I had peaked too many times and they were asking me if I was sure about how I was feeling, making me feel like I’m crazy,” Gail Devers said.

“I wrote Bobby a resignation letter saying he got Florence, Valerie, and Alice and I felt like I was wasting their time and they would not let me go. In those two and a half years that I was out before I came back to the track, I pulled my hamstring six times when I was jogging.”

However, after years of searching for her remedy, Gail Devers met a doctor who changed her life. She finally got to know what troubled her and was put on medication. Devers recovered after the radiation treatment was discontinued, and she resumed training.

Devers made a resounding comeback at the 1991 World Championships where she won a silver medal in the 100m hurdles. At the 1992 Summer Olympics, Devers beat Jamaican Juliet Cuthbert to win the 100m but stumbled in the 100m hurdles final.

In 1993, Devers won the World Championships 100m title over Merlene Ottey and she also claimed the 100m hurdles title which she successfully defended in 1995. Gail Devers claimed the win at the 1996 Olympic Games and became the first woman to retain the Olympic 100 m title since Wyomia Tyus.

In the final of the women’s 100m hurdles, Gail Devers again finished fourth. The 4x100m relay team that Devers won her a third Olympic gold medal.

Gail Devers continued her winning streak, claiming top honours at the World Championship in 1999 in the women’s 100m hurdles but she had to forfeit for the semi-finals at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

She was not done writing history as she proceeded to her fifth Olympic Games in 2004 in Athens, competing in the 100m and 100m hurdles. In 2007, Gail Devers was still in the game as she won the 60m hurdles event at the Millrose Games in 7.86 seconds. She hung her spikes in 2007 after the Paris Meeting SEAT where she finished fourth in the women’s 60m hurdles.