Final leap... Long jumper Rebecca Camilleri has quit athletics after a successful career. Photo: Paul Zammit Cutajar

There are many athletes who face a daily struggle to balance their work, life and training commitments.

It is tough, especially when you have high expectations of yourself, yet, Maltese athletes regularly manage to reach this balance.

“The past 12 months, from the start of last season, were challenging and demanding.

“I had to cope with the commitments of the final year of my PhD, teaching English as a part-time job, training six days a week, and planning my wedding.”

Trying to combine even two of those jobs would overwhelm most people but Rebecca Camilleri had to find time for all of them.

And she did.

“Each day was a push to do it all as best as possible while enjoying the journey and appreciate each opportunity and experience that was being given to me,” she said.

“I did, but I have to say, I’m glad it’s over now!”

Not that anyone who has followed Camilleri’s career would ever doubt her ability to handle tough situations.

A prodigy in the long jump who broke the national record when she was just 17, she has won multiple honours both for herself and the country.

Yet, all that was on the verge of being snatched away in 2013.

“At the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Turkey, I broke my knee during training two days before the competition,” she said recounting that dramatic moment.

“I was 28 at the time. It was extremely traumatic. I felt I was at my best ever, at the peak of my career, ready to win a medal and break my national record at the time (6.30m) which I had only re-set two days before the accident.

“In the ambulance, on the way to the hospital with my coach beside me, I was calling it quits. I was certain that, at my age, I wouldn’t manage to get back to where I was.”

However, time proved her wrong.

“After eight months of rehabilitation – as much mental as physical – I returned to the track and, at the 2014 National Championships, I bettered my national record with a jump of 6.41m which made me the only female athlete to reach the qualification standards for the 2014 Commonwealth Games,” Camilleri said.

“That season, funnily enough, went down as being the most successful in my 18-year career.

“That injury, turned out to be the best thing that has ever happened to me in athletics, and maybe even personally on some level.

“It taught me strength, perseverance, acceptance and appreciation.

“It was an opportunity for me to show myself how far I can actually go, how much I am ready to give for something I want, something I had worked so hard for.”

This season Camilleri continued building on that even if she wasn’t completely satisfied.

“I won two silver medals in two big international competitions, but of course I was hoping for gold,” Camilleri said.

“Let’s say I may not have reached my targets but this was not because I did not perform well... my competitors were better than me on the day.

“I ended last season with a season’s best of 6.38m which was just three centimetres shy of my national record.

“I was quite disappointed that I did not reach my target distance which was 6.50m, but despite this, I loved every minute of it and soaked in every experience and every jump. I gave it my all.”

Farewell

All this leads to her future in athletics, something which, by her own admission, she has often been asked about lately .

“I will take this as an opportunity to say that for now, I will be hanging up my spike shoes besides my medals and my crutches and I will be saying goodbye to competitive athletics,” she revealed.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank my coach Jivko Jetchev, who has always been like a father to me, for his love and belief in me. I’d also like to thank the MAAA who have always supported and encouraged me over the past 18 years, my Maltese club Athleta Pembroke that made athletics my second family.

“Thank you to BRACCO Atletica, my Italian club, who chose to invest in me and welcomed me so warmly into their family of athletes. I would like to thank the Maltese Olympic Committee and the Kunsill Malti għall-iSport for providing the countless opportunities that have enriched my life.

“Last but not least thanks to all my family and friends, and especially my husband – Federico – for their love, for fuelling my passion throughout all these years and being my number one fans!”