Burghead hammer thrower Mark Dry is recovering from vital hip surgery and is setting his sights on winning a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
But the Loughborough-based athlete, who won bronze at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and battled through the pain barrier to match that achievement at Australia’s Gold Coast in April, believes he can only achieve his goal if sufficient funding can be generated to keep his career on track.
He said: “I have undergone a full metal hip resurface. This is the third and hopefully final surgery to put me right and begin this seemingly impossible journey.”
Dry has shown remarkable powers of mental strength to overcome tremendous adversity over the past three years. In 2015 he was diagnosed with hip dysplasia, or shallow hip sockets, and his hopes of making the 2016 Rio Olympic team appeared to have been shattered.
He delayed surgery, taking pain-killers to dull the discomfort, and managed to get selected for the trip to Brazil. But a few days before the event he suffered another serious setback when his hip was seriously damaged after he slipped in training.
Despite being in agony, Dry fought doggedly to finish 21st in Rio, well below his best. Dry said: “After the Olympics I was told I was having my funding cut from the World Class Performance Programme.
“Shortly after this I had my first hip reconstruction and a British Athletics doctor told me to retire and that I would never throw competitively again.”
Dry was never going to accept that verdict and continued to soldier on. After the disappointment of failing to make the 2017 World Championships, he gritted his teeth once again and confounded many people by earning selection for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
He said: “I made it to Australia in bad shape but with sheer determination I pulled off a miracle by securing the bronze medal. This was like a gold medal to me after all I had been through after Rio. Despite the setbacks, I firmly believe with my determination and attitude I can make Tokyo. But my goal is not only to make Tokyo, but to medal.”
Anyone interested in helping Dry with funding to train full-time and receive medical support can do so at the pledgesports.org website.