EVERY athlete who is preparing to compete at the Rio Olympic Games, which begin on Friday, will have had their struggles. It is hard to imagine, though, that there are many who have had to overcome quite as many obstacles to get there as Eilish McColgan.

At the start of this year, McColgan had not raced on the track for 21 months and she still could not walk without pain having had persistent injury issues, which eventually resulted in surgery and metal screws in her foot. McColgan competed for Team GB in the 3000m steeplechase at London 2012 but the thought of regaining her fitness quickly enough to ensure that she repeated this feat in Rio seemed almost impossible; after all, if walking was painful, how was her body ever going to cope with the strain of steeplechase running?

It was in February that McColgan made the call to change events, moving up to the 5000m. The barriers in the steeplechase were, she feared, too stressful for her body so the best option appeared to be to move to the flat. It was a risky choice though; just a few months later, the British team for Rio would be selected and McColgan, with little 5000m experience, would be up against runners who had been doing the event for years.

“It was a very scary decision to change event in Olympic year,” the 25 year-old admits. “It was tough to make that call and have to think that I might not make the team for Rio.”

McColgan’s progress in the 5000m has been nothing short of remarkable though, fully justifying her decision to abandon the steeplechase. In her first 5000m outing of 2016, she smashed her personal best and ran well inside the Olympic qualifying time.

It was the perfect start and her upward trajectory has barely slowed. Another run under the qualifying time plus second place at the Olympic trials secured the Dundonian’s place in Team GB and ensured that she would be competing in her second Olympic Games in Rio. It is, she admits, scarcely believable.

“It’s still a bit surreal,” McColgan says. “At the start of the year, Rio was my aim but I really wasn’t sure how realistic an aim it was. So for it to have actually turned into a reality is pretty amazing.”

While the struggle may have been worthwhile in the end, McColgan’s journey to this point has tested her to her limit. There are times, she admits, when she wondered if she would ever be back at this level.

“The last few years have been really difficult,” she says. “There were stages when I was so determined to get fit but then I’d go through stages of being really down. I started to wonder if maybe this wasn’t for me- maybe my body just wasn’t built to run because I was breaking down all of the time.”

McColgan’s journey back to fitness has also been a steep learning curve. That she has her mum, Liz, an Olympic silver medallist to bounce ideas off of certainly helps but her persistent injury challenges meant that she was on unchartered territory. The consistent experimentation with her training has messed with her mind at times.

“I can only run once a day now and then I’m on a cross-trainer most evenings so I’m not doing the mileage that the other girls are doing,” she says. “That was the toughest thing to get my head around.”

McColgan’s victory over adversity is the kind of good news story that athletics is crying out for in these dark times where doping is dominating the headlines. McColgan is refreshingly honest and outspoken about the issue that is causing severe damage to the sport that she loves. “I’ve always been outspoken about doping because I’m having to compete against these people,” she says.

“There are ways to do it clean but people choose to take the easy route which does frustrate me. It’s not easy to succeed and it’s made a lot harder by other athletes doping but I still think it is possible.”

For now though, McColgan has one explicit goal in mind.

“I want to make the final in Rio,” she says. “I feel that I’m capable of that but it’s not going to be easy because the 5k is such a strong event. I’m really looking forward to arriving in the Athletes’ Village and I think the fact that it’s not been an easy ride to get there makes it even sweeter.

“Everything I’ve been through has made me a lot mentally stronger – and it’s made me realise that athletics is what I really love to do.”