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Olympian Sophie McKinna swaps shot put for rugby

Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Getty Images Sophie McKinna looking upwards to the left. She is smiling. The picture has been taken during a shot put competition.Getty Images
Sophie McKinna announced her shot put retirement on social media and revealed she had been playing rugby for the past six months

An Olympic shot putter is retiring from athletics and taking up a team sport.

Sophie McKinna, 31, from Bradwell, near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, has spent the last six months playing rugby and hopes to join a Premiership team.

The nine-time national champion had previously considered retiring when a serious elbow injury put her 2024 Paris Olympic dreams on hold.

"I have no regrets in my career at all. I have performed to the best of my ability and got the best out of my body I physically could have," she said.

Aged just four, McKinna already aspired to become an Olympian. She started throwing at 12.

While injuries were "part and parcel" of elite sport, she said years of hyper-extending her elbow at such force had resulted in wear and tear.

She said having surgery on her elbow, then losing some support and backing when she returned to the shot put, had been "the downfall of my career".

Getty Images Sophie McKinna competing with her elbow bent and a shot put on her shoulder tucked into her neck. Her other arm is in the air. She is concentrating and not looking at the camera. Getty Images
McKinna represented Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and had hoped to compete in Paris in 2024

McKinna represented Team GB at the Tokyo Games in 2020, but missed most of the 2023 season following the surgery.

She said funding had been a "barrier" during her athletics career.

"I said to my mum when I was four years old I wanted to be an Olympian and that came true, which is my biggest achievement in athletics.

"I won multiple British titles, records and all the rest of it.

"My experience has been greater than that in terms of being able to travel the world, meet people, see different cultures.

"It's been a really eye-opening experience which has rounded me into the person I am today."

Dogs Trust Sophie McKinna who is kneeling on the grass with a rescue dog in front of her. She is looking directly at the camera and smiling. She is dressed in a black fleece and black trousers.Dogs Trust
After elbow surgery she joined the Snetterton Dogs Trust, and used her Olympic shot put skills to throw tennis balls for the dogs

She has joined Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club.

McKinna said she "absolutely loved" rugby, adding that her shot put and powerlifting experience had helped her adapt to the sport.

She said while athletics could be "lonely", she would miss the "joy of personal achievements when it all comes together".

"I look back to the days when I was younger and I never thought this day would come.... all the experiences come one after another and you're always striving for the next thing, you never sit in the moment.

"If I could do it again, I wish I had sat in those moments a little bit more and appreciated what I had because being an athlete is a massive privilege."

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