The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHILE the “Golden Knights” are being paraded around the Bahamas for their achievement at the 2012 Olympic Games, triple jumper Leevan “Superman” Sands is thankful that he’s at his home in Auburn recuperating from his right knee injury that required surgery.

Sands, who left the Homerton University Hospital the day before he celebrated his 31st birthday, said his recovery is coming along quite well, despite the fact that he experiences a lot of pain whenever he gets up.

“The injury is coming along good. It’s getting better and better,” said Sands, who underwent a successful surgery to repair patellar tendinitis, commonly referred to as “Jumper’s Knee.”

During the final of the men’s triple jump, Sands’ knee gave out as he went through his skip, hop and jump phase. He was sitting in third at the time, but finished fifth with a leap of 17.21m or 56-feet, 5 3/4-inches.

Although he is slow to move around, Sands said he experiences a lot of difficulty whenever he has to stretch out his leg. “I’m coping,” said Sands, who noted that he’s back on his feet again as he goes through the light rehabilitation he was given by the therapist on his release from the hospital last Wednesday.

On his arrival back in the United States, Leevan was surprised by his younger brother Deangelo ‘Andy’ Sands, his wife and two sons. They joined him and his wife Danielle and their two sons in a grand celebration, albeit a painful one as he spent the majority of the time stretching out his leg on the couch.

“That made me feel a little happier too,” said Sands about the extra company at home. “I was just glad to be at home with my family.”

Although he has started walking slowly with the crutches, Sands said he has not began his therapy with any of the doctors in Auburn as yet. But he’s eagerly looking forward to getting that phase started in about two weeks.

“They gave me some exercises to do whilst I’m home,” he said. “But I know it’s going to be a long process back and I’m just taking it one day at a time.”

Expressing his gratitude to the Bahamas Olympic Committee for the manner in which they assisted him in London, Sands said his main concern now is his road to recovery because “I got hurt on the battle field,” referring to the competition that he was going through at the time.

For the first time on Sunday as he was resting at home, Sands said he got a chance to review a taping of the competition and he was shocked at what he saw. He noted that he felt that his performance should have been further than what was measured and he hopes that it can be reviewed by the relevant parties.

“From what I saw and from what a few people mentioned to me, it looked further than what it was,” Sands said. “So after seeing it for the first time on u tube, it looks much further than what it is. I just want them to review it and see if it wasn’t a bigger jump than what they have recorded, just to make sure. You never know. I didn’t have a chance to review it because I got hurt. This was the first time that I actually saw it (Sunday), so I’m just hoping that they can look at it. It maybe or it may not be. From the looks of it in the video, it looks much further. I know the competition is over, but it doesn’t hurt to review it.”

Whatever the outcome, Sands said he’s eager to put the experience behind him and start concentrating on his rehab with the view of getting himself ready for a full recovery for another attempt at the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he will continue to pursue the gold medal that has eluded him.

Sands went into the games as the bronze medallist in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

While he’s going through his recovery, Sands said he wants to congratulate the men’s 4 x 400 relay team of Chris “Fireman” Brown, Demetrius Pinder, Michael Mathieu and Ramon “Fearless” Miller, who are all enjoying the benefits of being the Olympic champions.

He said he wished he was able to be a part of the celebrations, as an Olympic medallist again, but as fate would have it, he was injured.

In his recovery period, Sands said that he’s hoping that the Bahamas Government doesn’t take him off the subvention list.

Because “I got hurt going to war for the country,” he said.

Sands also reminded the public that athletics is his life, his job. It’s his means right now of sustaining his family and so he hopes that consideration will be given to the fact that he got hurt competing for the Bahamas and, as such, he should not be penalised because he’s out of commission right now.

He is hoping that won’t be the case as he works his way back in tip-top shape to compete again.