If there were Olympic medals for pure courage judo star Stephanie Inglis would have a sack full.
Just a few months after having a titanium plate inserted to protect her skull she is adamant that she will compete in her sport again at the highest level.
The 28-year-old 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist made the defiant pledge yesterday while helping her father Robert coach aspiring young members of the Highland Budokan Judo Club competing at an event in Ireland.
Having made a phenomenal recovery from horrific injuries she suffered in an overseas motorcycle accident, the Inverness-based athlete has just started working for a car hire firm in the city.
While hugely grateful to the firm, which held the position open for her during her many months of medical treatment and recuperation, her sights remain firmly set on returning to her sport.
It is almost a year since was dragged from the back of a motorcycle taxi, cutting short her teaching career in Vietnam. Her skirt got caught in the rear wheel.
Put in a medically-induced coma, a specialist had given her a “1% chance” of survival.
“I’m feeling good, making good progress,” Miss Inglis said. “I’m nearly back to my normal self.
“I’m on my way to making a full recovery. I’ve just started the new job with Enterprise Rent-a-car at Inverness Airport, so I’ve got lots of new goals to work towards, which is great.”
A surgeon who helped save her life after the bike crash warned her she may be unable to compete again on the international stage. But she is confident she had her final operation in January and can, one day, resume her sporting career.
“My surgeon isn’t happy with me getting back into judo because it’s a full contact sport. He thinks it’s a miracle I survived and if I had another head injury I wouldn’t overcome that,” she said.
“I still think there’s something left in me that I could do on the circuit. I’m going to wait until 2020 and get some more scans and weigh up the risk then. Ideally, my long term goal is to fight in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“I might get back into training and realise it isn’t going to work. But I’m not going to make that decision right now. Ultimately it is my decision but you can’t please everyone, I guess.”
