The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IT seems as if the best remedy for his recovery was to come home.

That’s why Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands said he was so eager to get back to the Bahamas from Auburn, Alabama, where he left his wife Danielle and two children, Leevan III and Lion, so that he can continue his therapy after surgery on August 10 to repair his patellae tendinitis in his right knee.

Sands suffered the injury to what is called the ‘Jumper’s Knee’ while he was competing in the final of the men’s triple jump at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. He was sitting in fourth place when he went down on his fourth jump. He didn’t complete the final two attempts and finished fifth with a best leap of 17.19 metres or 56-feet, 43/4-inches.

“I know a lot of fans wanted me to come home,” said Sands after he came through the Lynden Pindling International Airport to a surprise reception that was organised by his mother Elaine Sands and his family and friends. “I feel great just to be home. I came home to this. I wasn’t expecting this. I just thought my sister was coming to pick me up and I was going home. So this was a surprise for me. Thanks to Colina Insurance. They offered to buy my ticket to come home.”

Four weeks since his surgery at the Homerton University Hospital in Homerton Row, London, Sands said he’s recuperating much faster than anticipated by the doctors, which could mean that he could be back in jumping form a lot sooner than expected.

“We’re still shooting for another 4-5 months before we start training again and about nine months before I could start competing,” Sands said.

As he’s currently not feeling any pain, except for when he has to bend the knee during his physical therapy treatment, Sands said the good news is that he’s not even taking any pain killers.

“While I’m home I’m just going to relax, visit family and friends and just relax,” he said. “I’m always training, so this is the perfect time for me to relax. My daddy (Leevan Sands Sr) is home sick. I wish he was here. So I have to spend time with them. My parents are getting older and I haven’t spent any time with them in a long time.

“I’ve been gone away for 14 years since high school. Now I feel I can spend more time with my family and friends and stuff like that.”

Although they didn’t make the trip home with him, Sands said his family is “doing better than me” in Auburn. He expressed his gratitude to his wife Danielle, who was in London when he went down and was at his bedside before and after the surgery and had the added task of taking care of “three boys” when they returned to the US. Sands said he hopes to make the best of his trip home.