Brave Olympic ace Aries Merritt battles to defend title after kidney transplant
United States hurdles star says threat of Zika virus in Rio is last thing on his mind after struggle against crippling disease
ARIES MERRITT won gold medal in the 110 metre at London 2012 and a few weeks later shattered the world record in 12.80secs.
A year later the American faded to sixth at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow having lost his famed acceleration in the second half of the race.
A few weeks later doctors discovered Merritt had a rare, acute and rapidly progressing kidney disease known as collapsing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, or collapsing FSGS.
Happily he is back and today attempts to qualify for another Olympic team in Rio at the US national track and field trials.
Fears of the Zika virus in Rio, which has led golfers Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Jason Day to pull out, are next to nothing for a man who drinks about two gallons of water a day just to keep his kidney hydrated.
He says it is important to show "everyone around the world your story and your struggle”.
Should Merritt make the Olympics that achievement alone will be almost as spectacular as his performance in London.
Even his treatment options have been limited because he has been unable to use diuretics and the blood-boosting drug EPO, which are banned as doping agents.
Merritt has seldom raced this season. His speed has not fully recovered, and each time his trail leg clears a hurdle, his right thigh slaps against his abdomen, leaving him with a numbing, tugging feeling and the occasional spasm. The pain was so sharp in the winter that he could not compete in the indoor season.
Still, Merritt, who will turn 31 on July 24, says: “I need to go to Rio. If I can run, I need to be able to defend my title. I need to make a way out of no way.”
He has joined a relatively small group of athletes who have returned to the top of their game after having kidney transplants, including the former NBA players Alonzo Mourning and Sean Elliott.
Training has been difficult. Sometimes he needed 30 minutes to recover between sprints of 150m. Walking up a flight of stairs at his apartment in Phoenix, Merritt said, “felt like I ran three miles, all out.”
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Last year his weight dropped to 160lbs, 10 below his current weight. He said he was allowed only limited amounts of protein, sodium and potassium, which his kidneys struggled to filter. His legs cramped.
Somehow, as a transplant looked increasingly like his only option Merritt competed in the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. He said he felt exhausted as the three rounds of the hurdles progressed, and he plied himself with caffeine from energy drinks. Somehow he took third place, an amazing achievement...and four days before his kidney transplant.
“A lot of it was because I thought it was probably going to be my last time running ever again,” Merritt said. “And so I just pulled a rabbit out of a hat, essentially.”
Last September he underwent transplant surgery with a kidney donated by elder sister Hubbard.
He resumed training seven weeks later. Quickly, though, a hematoma developed on the transplanted kidney, formed as his trail leg kept striking his stomach. A second surgery was needed to reset the kidney deeper inside his abdomen, he said. More training time was lost.
He is still playing catch-up. But training has felt encouraging. His doctors are concerned about the Zika virus in Brazil because he is taking drugs that suppress his immune system, and they have asked him to reconsider competing in the Games if he qualifies.
He would wear long sleeves and insect repellent, Merritt said, but skipping the Olympics, his sport’s most visible competition, is not an option for him. It is important to strive for another gold medal, he said, and to show “everyone around the world your story and your struggle”.
If Merritt wins in Rio, Hubbard joked, he can keep the gold medal. All she wants is to take half of his victory lap.
“He has a part of me,” Hubbard said. “He has something that is helping him, like he has the best kidney in the world right now.”