By Neto Baptiste
National high-jumper Priscilla Loomis has called it a day on her international career.
The 32-year-old US-based athlete made the disclosure during an interview with Observer media, revealing that she has decided to hang up her spikes after not being able to meet the qualifying standard for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“Yes, I am all done. I am officially retiring from track & field. It’s bittersweet because as an athlete you have to plan ahead, because we are not going to keep going and going. I didn’t want to end on an injury or outside of my own terms so I had planned this for a while, but I definitely didn’t plan on retiring not going to the games so that was definitely unexpected,” she said.
Loomis, who became known for her colourful hair during major games, is hoping for a move into sports broadcasting or another popular field.
“One of them is acting, one of them is working on television for maybe a network like NBC or even a sports network like FOX Sports or ESPN. I currently work at a radio station where I am the morning deejay and I love doing that so I could continue to hopefully do radio or I could start working in social media,” Loomis said.
The athlete, who battled Covid after testing positive in January, is still living with the effects of the virus. She believes that it played a major role in her not meeting the Olympic standard.
“I don’t know how I contracted Covid; it’s not anything I had control over and I did everything I possibly could, but I can only control what I can control so I am actually more proud of myself for overcoming it and being alive today, because there was the factor where because of my chest pains and my heart complications that if I continued to train that it could have been fatal, so to be alive and moving forward and healthy, I am very grateful for that,” she said.
Loomis said she had hoped for a universality spot to the Tokyo games.