Louise Damen is a British athlete to be proud of.
The former teacher has battled against the odds all her life having been born with a condition which could have denied her the ability to walk.
Having defied the doctors the 30-year-old choose a sport, in long distance runner, that has been tainted by drugs cheats and a continent in Africa which has produced athletes are can touch.
The odds have always been against Louise Damen. Yet instead of moan or move on, she simply takes it on the chin, tries even harder and remains determined to prove she can still achieve success the hard way.
Louise Damen spoke to PharmaNutricals, the fastest growing brand of sports supplements in the UK, ahead of her preparations to qualify for the Olympics in Rio 2016.
Drugs
She talked drugs cheats, training, her bid for Gold and the juggling act of being a full time teacher – until very recently – and a top international athlete.
She said: “The issue of doping is a problem in the sport. I don’t think it is a new thing, it is obviously just coming to light.
“I think it maybe an issue for some time to come, the international governing body has a long way to go before we are competing on a level playing field.
“At the end of the day, you just have to do the best that you can do and know the performances you deliver are clean.
“It is very difficult and you can’t let yourself think about it too much because it just becomes too depressing, especially if you are having work as well because you are not funded and you are competing against athletes that are maybe not competing fairly.
“You have to kind of just concentrate on doing everything that you can the right way and knowing that at the end of the day, when I look back at my career in 20 or 30 years times I will know I had the integrity to do it clean.”
Read Louise Damen Interview In Full
Click this link to read the full Louise Damen interview via PharmaNutricals.com