Jade Lally on bouncing back and her road to Rio

Angry and fighting back the tears, Jade Lally made a vow after her appeal to compete in the London Olympics was rejected: Never again would she give the British team selectors an excuse to leave her out of a major championships.

The next four years have not exactly been plain sailing for the 29-year-old discus thrower. Her throws reached an annual plateau of about 60 metres, while a succession of operations for kidney stones and another to remove a benign tumour in her neck have not helped her progress.

Even so, there have been highs, including winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, when she became famous for taking selfies with the famous, from comedian John Bishop to cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins.

This year, however, has been momentous, starting with breaking the English record twice in three days in February and then finally realising her Olympic dream at the UK Championships in Birmingham, by finishing in the top two to confirm her place in the team for Rio.

Talking at Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre, Horsham, where she trains and also works as a personal trainer, Lally described the pain of 2012, the trials of what happened next and her joy at finally qualifying for Olympics. The determination to succeed is a lesson for all aspiring athletes.

“I was pretty bad when I wasn’t selected,” said Lally, who at the time said she would “never forgive” Charles van Commenee, head coach of UK Athletics, for not selecting her.

“I was quite depressed. I thought I was going. I had the B standard and nobody had the A standard, so they could have selected me. The conversation the selectors had must have been to put one person in or no one, and I will never understand that decision or fully get over it.”

“The conversation the selectors had must have been to put one person in or no one, and I will never understand that decision or fully get over it”

The next summer, the Shaftesbury Barnet Harrier reverted to competing under her maiden name Lally, after her marriage to Lee Nicholls ended. “The Olympic decision didn’t help, but it wasn’t solely down to that,” she said. “I wasn’t a very happy person to be around.”

The pressure to qualify for London 2012 had been “hideous”, Lally said. “It was my first year on funding. I had no idea what to expect. People from the governing body were always asking how you are and how are your …

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