“It has been some of the hardest months for me mentally due to it…not knowing if I will be able to compete at the highest level again, but I will keep the spirit high and do everything I can to be back competing,” Richard Murray posted to his followers and fans as update on his health situation. The South-African athlete explains that he has been struggling with Atrial Fibrillation (AFIB) over the past few months. “That means my heart sometimes goes out of rhythm completely; sometimes it’s high, sometimes it’s low. It’s a condition that middle-aged athletes – pro athletes – get quite often.”
With the Olympics approaching, that’s anything but ideal. But health always come first, Murray emphasizes. “It’s definitely going to put a little bit of a hamper on my professional career and this is extremely, extremely tough for me. The Olympics and obviously my career as a professional athlete is on the line a tiny bit. But we are doing everything we can. A lot of top athletes have had it before, so I’m not the first one. It’s quite a known condition of the heart and there are ways of fixing it, so I’m really happy about that. Until that it’s fixed it’s going to be very tough for me not to race and compete, but your health always come first. I’ll keep everyone informed on how things are going.”
Murray ends his update with a strong message: “I’m not done yet.”
