Australia’s two-time world surfing champion Taylor Wright spent her off-season pulling out all the stops to put her in top shape to win Olympic gold later this year, undergoing “life-changing” surgery to remove seven screws into her head.
After reaching her first World Surf League quarter-finals in Portugal this year, Wright revealed she had suffered from respiratory problems throughout her surfing career as her narrow airways made it difficult for her to get oxygen.
The 29-year-old, one of four surfers to represent Australia at the 2024 Olympics, sought expert advice at the end of last season and was told he would need a palate expander, a procedure that widens the upper jaw and increases Device for maxillary width. Airflow is essential before she can resume any play.
“I’ve had quite a few doctors and experts tell me they don’t know how I do what I do,” Wright said. “Based on my brain scans and anatomy, I shouldn’t have done what I did. I’m a professional surfer and this is really unusual.
“Through a specialist, we ultimately discovered that I was being deprived of oxygen most of the time, my nose was semi-suffocated the whole time, and my airway was very small.”
The surgery has kept Wright in good shape as she aims for a third world title on the WSL Championship Tour and an Olympic gold medal at the championships in Tahiti.
“Honestly, it was life-changing, the most sober I’ve ever felt,” she said.
“I have seven screws in my head, ranging in size from 9mm to 17mm [in length] In the off-season I expanded it.Basically it popped the bone out and I got 7 mm [of extra airway space] Through that.
“I made an inefficient system efficient. Now I have an efficient system and I wake up every day feeling great. But I had to train a new system. Thirteen years later, it’s confusing. , giving me a bit of a headache. But I’m working on it and I have great support and excellent doctors who explain everything.
“It’s been really successful and it’s changing my life, but it’s also a process and I’m just the first step and a half of this multi-step process.”
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Wright suffered numerous health issues throughout her career. After winning world titles in 2016 and 2017, she missed 14 months with post-viral syndrome, which left her with “brain fog” and chronic fatigue, and she was hospitalized for three days before last year’s WSL final due to debilitating conditions. Menstrual pain.
“I’m healing my nervous system,” she said Monday.
“I fell asleep for the first time in 15 years. I had to get help to make sense of this season. I feel different this season when I go out and play.”
Wright will face Hawaii’s Gabriela Bryan in the quarterfinals of the Rip Curl Pro presented by Supertubos this week as she seeks her first event win of the season. She will join Molly Picklum, Ethan Ewing and Jack Robinson in the Olympic surfing competition, which starts on July 27.
