A Saskatchewan Olympian is saying goodbye to the track.
Brianne Theisen-Eaton from Humboldt, Sask. announced her retirement as an athlete in a heartfelt post online Wednesday.
Theisen-Eaton won a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio summer games, but her strength in track and field preceded her Olympic placing.
She holds the Canadian record for the heptathlon, as well as the indoor pentathlon. The athlete also placed on the podium at consecutive world championships since 2013, and was a national junior champion in 2006.
In her retirement announcement, the 28 year old describes the panic and adrenaline she’d feel heading in into an 800-metre race – and the excitement to compete again that would no doubt follow.
This feeling didn’t happen, however, after she finished in Rio.
“I took three months to completely get away. I didn’t think about those feelings. I didn’t want to make any decisions based on my mental exhaustion,” she wrote.
Ultimately, as the 2017 training season drew near, the athlete acknowledged she was resistant to starting again.
“I gave the last four years everything I could. I put my life on hold. Track and field was the priority before everything else: my family, my friends, my marriage, my future,” she wrote.
“This is something I chose to do and I don’t regret it for a second. It made me happy to pursue something I was so passionate about.”
Theisen-Eaton goes on to say she no longer has her passion for track and field, and that she can’t advance any further in the sport. The athlete then thanked her coaches, friends and husband – fellow track and field athlete Ashton Eaton.
Her father, Cal Theisen, told 650 CKOM while it’s sad he will no longer get to see her complete, the timing was right after she battled a number of significant of injuries before and during the Rio games.
“In a sense, some relief because I know what she has gone through in the past few years,” Cal said.
“Thinking about going back to train in fall she said, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get through the practices. I don’t want to do it anymore.'”
As for what comes next, Cal said Brianne is still considering her options with husband Ashton.
In the same online post, Ashton also announced his retirement from track and field.