Broken bones and broken dreams but finally an Olympian - Jess Piasecki, Team GB Marathon

Jess Piasecki is part of Team GB in the marathon and will make her Olympic debut in the heat of Tokyo. I met Jess at the Team GB Kitting Out day and she was thrilled with the experience.

Jess's story is a remarkable one. She's been competing at international level since she was 16. But from the age of 18 she's had to learn about and overcome a number of problems especially poor bone health and issues with the menstrual cycle which has left her with a lot of serious injuries including 7 compression fractures in her spine. She missed both the Rio Olympics and the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games with problems with her hips, rib and spine.

Jess has become an expert about what caused these issues and she's now a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University.

There's lots to learn from Jess's website at www.runscience.co.uk

And have a listen to Jess's own podcast - Female Athlete Podcast

https://femaleathletepodcast.buzzsprout.com/

I'm making these podcast to help raise awareness for Maggie's Cancer Centres, if you fancy giving a few pounds as a tip - here's the link

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/destinationtokyo