There will be no golden birthday celebrations for Dai Greene this week after injury once again struck the former 400 hurdles world champion and forced him to pull out of the Commonwealth Games.
With the heats on Tuesday and his 32nd birthday on Wednesday, Greene was hoping to get back into the big time after almost five years of injury hell. He had worked hard to reach the qualifying standard to gain selection for Team Wales, clocking times in South Africa last month that moved into medal contention once again.
But now a hamstring injury has now dashed his hopes of a return to the rostrum at Gold Coast. The 2010 Commonwealth and European champion, Greene suffered a grade one tear in training in Australia.
“It’s been an emotional 18 months and this is hard to take at such a late stage. I’m really disappointed to miss out on what would have been my fourth Commonwealth Games,” said Greene.
“Representing Wales is special for me. That’s why I fought so hard through a difficult period of injury to make it to the Games.
“There is still so much to be positive about. The times I ran in South Africa last month were good for this early in the year and have given me a lot of optimism for the season ahead.
“Despite this disappointment, I am still in a good place for the summer. Now I look forward to cheering on Team Wales to more medal success.
“We have a group of brilliant athletes out here and Bethan Davies really set the tone for us with a bronze in the first event and now Livvy Breen has delivered a gold.”
Scott Simpson, Head of Performance for Welsh Athletics, gave Greene every chance to make the team for Gold Coast and was delighted to see one of Wales’ greatest athletes of all-time achieve what many people thought was the impossible to run faster than 49.50 sec.
He managed that twice in a week in South Africa, qualifying less than a week before the cut off date. His final time of 49.38 sec pushed him into the fastest men in the Commonwealth this year and finally put a smile on his face after four groin operations during his five years of injury misery.
“We were all thrilled with what Dai was able to do in South Africa in February. To get the A standard twice and seal his place at the Games was fantastic,” said Simpson.
“The form he showed meant he was set to be a serious contender here and he trained well after those races. But, after arriving here in Australia, he picked up a hamstring injury which, despite our best efforts, we haven’t been able to overcome.
“It’s very disappointing that he’s had to withdraw. But we are confident this could still be a great season for him.”
Greene will now turn his attention to supporting his team-mates in competition on the Gold Coast.
He added: “We have a group of brilliant athletes out here and I will be cheering them on to more medal success.
Team Wales Chef de Mission Professor Nicola Phillips commented: “We share Dai’s obvious disappointment. It’s always a blow to lose an athlete of his calibre, who knows what it takes to win at the Commonwealth Games.
“We will give Dai every support and look forward to seeing him back on the track soon.”
“We all admired the way Dai fought his way back from a long spell injury to qualify for the team. The way he has dealt so positively with this setback speaks volumes for his character.”