Profile of Nathan Douglas athlete who has 'recovered from CFS'

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JohnTheJack

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Not a recommendation.

Paywalled here:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...2-was-the-darkest-period-of-my-life-vxt5gftcx


‘London 2012 was the darkest period of my life’
Rick Broadbent

When Nathan Douglas lines up in a Great Britain vest on Friday they should give him a medal. It is a dozen years since he last competed at the European Indoor Championships and he has been serially scuttled by misfortune ever since. These problems have included a ruptured hamstring, ruptured ankle ligaments and the ruptured 2012 dream, but they also take in the death of his grandfather, chronic fatigue syndrome and a fractured spine. Most of us would have given up. Instead, the 36-year-old will be triple jumping in Glasgow, 12 years on from winning a silver medal at the same championships, oozing positive vibes. “People say, ‘Don’t you feel let down by your body?’ I feel the opposite because I have come back from injuries that people thought were career-threatening.”
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From his website, http://www.jumpyourperformance.com/
What people didn't know was Nathan was now secretly batting chronic fatigue syndrome that came out of nowhere, suddenly he struggled to train, struggled to run, struggled to lift weights, struggled to sleep, struggled to compete and could only perform at 16 metres much to his frustration. At its worst even the most simplest activity like jogging, became difficult as his legs would burn like fire and felt as heavy as lead.

Nathan, exhausted and battling these symptoms of M.E., impressively still managed to pull out a big enough jump to just scrape through to the final at the European Championships in Gothenburg.

In the final Nathan’s team were understandably concerned as they could sense a first major championship medal opportunity slipping away, Nathan determinedly and unsurprisingly had other plans. Although tired and heavy legged Nathan’s faith in his ability to perform under pressure when it matters most paid off leaping to 17.21m, winning the silver medal and missing out on gold only to the Olympic Champion, however, defeating the Olympic silver medallist.
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And that's the only mention of CFS or ME. His bio then ends with
Nathan reproduced this form in the outdoor season, but a serious hamstring injury cut short his season and he missed the World Championship in Osaka.

Having worked hard to rehabilitate himself from this career-threatening setback, miraculously he still managed a return to form at the Olympic Trials and qualify for his second Olympic Games in Beijing.

Nathan has always had a passion for performance psychology which lead him to achieve a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science (Psychology) from Loughborough University. He is a ICF ACSTH Certified Professional Coach and a Licensed Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

Nathan is currently in training for the 2017 London World Athletics Championships.
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ME, or over-training, who can really know?
 
What people didn't know was Nathan was now secretly batting chronic fatigue syndrome that came out of nowhere, suddenly he struggled to train, struggled to run, struggled to lift weights, struggled to sleep, struggled to compete and could only perform at 16 metres much to his frustration. At its worst even the most simplest activity like jogging, became difficult as his legs would burn like fire and felt as heavy as lead.
Nathan, exhausted and battling these symptoms of M.E., impressively still managed to pull out a big enough jump to just scrape through to the final at the European Championships in Gothenburg.
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To put this into context, 16 metres, the distance he was jumping when he supposedly had ME, is further than the female world record of 15.50 metres.

Andy said:
ME, or over-training, who can really know?
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The fact that he was still jogging and jumping further than any woman has ever jumped in history suggest that his physical function was nowhere near the threshold for a diagnosis of ME/CFS, even using Peter White’s criteria of a score of less than 75 on the SF-36 physical function scale). And the fact that he appears to have made a full recovery by “battling” his symptoms and continuing to train suggests that he did not have PEM and that he should therefore not have been diagnosed with ME or CFS – if indeed he was.

NB I’m not criticising Nathan, only those who have advised him that he had ME, and those who have contributed to the muddle and confusion that surrounds the diagnosis.
 
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