“It’s really difficult,” said Antje Möldner-Schmidt when asked recently about how it felt to have to give up competing in the sport she loves. It wasn’t cancer that has forced the 2014 European champion to hang up her cleats, but a persistent foot injury that will prevent her from taking part in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which she had hoped would be the final highlight of her career.
Still, back in 2010 the now 35-year-old Möldner-Schmidt didn’t know if she would even be able to run again, let alone win a European title. That’s the year when the German, who at the time was among the world’s best women in the 3,000 meters steeple chase, was diagnosed with lymph gland cancer.
“After the initial shock, I knew I wanted to get back out there (on the track) quickly,” she said, “I must have been a little naïve. But maybe this helped me to adjust to it more quickly.”
But she wasn’t able to return to the track as quickly as she had hoped, and during her recovery, she wound up having to refrain from all strenuous physical activity.
“I didn’t do anything because it wasn’t offered,” she said.
This is something that she now regrets, since the positive effects of exercise and sports in cancer therapy have since been proven.
European Championship gold
Möldner-Schmidt is far from the only elite athlete who has been diagnosed with cancer. Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who was later stripped of his titles for doping, long used his fight against cancer as the clean public image he projected. German footballers Heiko Herrlich and Marco Russ have fought their own battles with cancer.
Antje Möldner-Schmidt also managed to make a comeback on the track.
“At the beginning it was very difficult”, she recalled. “I had to take a day or two off between training sessions because my body simply needed more time to recover following the chemotherapy and radiation treatment.”
In 2012 she won bronze in the 3000 meters steeple chase at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki. Years later, after silver medalist Svitlana Schmidt of Ukraine tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance, Möldner-Schmidt was awarded the silver medal.
Antje Möldner-Schmidt won gold in the 3000 meters steeple chase at the 2014 European Championships
In 2014 Möldner-Schmidt celebrated the highlight of her career, winning gold in the same event at the European Championships in Zurich.
“That was the moment when all of the stress simply evaporated,” she said. “Of course you think of the illness you have overcome, there’s no denying that.”
It was only much later that she was truly able to put her achievements and her recovery into perspective.
“In the aftermath, you deal with it in a completely different way,” she said. “It has certainly made me more sensitive. I enjoy the moment and the time with my family. And I’ve learned to pay more attention to my body better when something doesn’t seem quite right.”
Simply enjoying life
This new perspective seems to have been a major factor in her decision to retire from competitive athletics, although sport will continue to be a big part of her life. Being physically active is also something she would recommend to anyone else who is diagnosed with cancer, because “exercise can be helpful in relieving symptoms during therapy.”
Möldner-Schmidt also believes it is important not to set one’s goals too high.
“It’s important to experience the small successes when it comes to sport and therapy, and to simply enjoy life.”
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Lance Armstrong
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Edna Campbell
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Marco Russ
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Antje Möldner-Schmidt
German middle-distance runner Antje Möldner-Schmidt, who specializes in the 3,000-meters steeplechase, was diagnosed with a lymphoid cell disorder in 2010. After undergoing treatment and missing the entire 2010 season, she returned to competition at the 2011 German championships, where she finished fourth. She has since won both gold and silver medals at the European Athletics Championships.
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Heiko Herrlich
Former German international Heiko Herrlich was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in the autumn of 2000. Having undergone successful radiation therapy, Herrlich returned to action one year later. However the forward, who scored 75 goals in 258 appearances for Leverkusen, Mönchengladbach and Dortmund, never returned to his earlier form. He hung up his boots in 2004 to pursue coaching.
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Author: Chuck Penfold
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/cancer-survivor-antje-m%C3%B6ldner-schmidt-a-new-appreciation-for-life/a-52252555?maca=en-rss-en-sports-1027-xml-atom
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