Athletes will go to extreme lengths to compete, but Kiwi wrestler Cole Hawkins has taken that to a whole new level.
The 24-year old has revealed he put surgery on hold to make his Commonwealth Games debut at Birmingham, with two key muscles detached from the bone.
"After I flew back from the Games, I had a day to recover, then I went straight into surgery and got my shoulder fixed," Hawkins told Newshub.
An injury during training in March caused Hawkins some discomfort, but he only discovered the full extent of the damage in May.
"I had an ultrasound done and it showed up some things that probably weren't ideal before the Commonwealth Games," he said. "They diagnosed a torn latissimus dorsi and a teres major, so it'd come off my bone."
Surgery would've resulted in an estimated six-month recovery, which - with Birmingham right on the doorstep - was time Hawkins didn't have.
"The surgeon said, 'If you can deal with the pain, you can keep wrestling'," Hawkins revealed.
Hawkins did exactly that, bearing the pain for his Commonwealth Games debut, where he just missed out on a bronze medal in the 74kg division.
"There's feelings of it will be better next time," he admitted. "No-one wants to compete missing a few muscles."
Those muscles should be intact for the 2024 Olympics at Paris, where Hawkins will have his eyes on redemption.
"The African champs is to qualify for Olympic Games... get over there in 2024 and qualify for the Olympics, and try to make it in Paris."
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