van ZYL Irvette

General
KNEE SURGERY
She underwent surgery and stem cell treatment on her right knee in May 2020, which she said was the most difficult moment in her career. She said her knee had been causing constant pain and swelling for the previous 16 years. "I had a chondroplasty done to my right knee with stem cells taken out my hipbone [and injected] into that area. Basically generating new cartilage. There are better medical terms to be used but this is my understanding of the procedure that was done. It was really really painful. These last few months have been the [most] challenging and most painful journey of my running career. It is a second chance in the making. Today my knee [is] the best it has ever been in 16 years." (Instagram profile, 08 Dec 2020)

LEG NUMBNESS
In 2019 she said she had been running with numbness in her left leg since 2012. Despite a variety of medical tests and treatment, the problem remained a mystery until doctors diagnosed a vascular problem in 2017. In July 2019 she underwent surgery to release the left iliac artery and improve blood flow to her leg. "The artery was entrapped, [which] caused seven years of running with a numb leg and no power on the one side. I just got tired of hearing that there was something wrong with me and nobody understood it. The numbness would happen while training or on an easy run. You'd lose control of your hamstring, it would go down to your calf and you'd lose complete control of your foot placing and there'd be no strength in your leg when you stepped on it. Every time it would happen, you'd lose a lot of seconds because your pace slows down. Every race it would flare up. It was tempting to stop [running] than just continue. If it's gone now for good, I won't miss it." (news24.com, 05 Jul 2019)

RETIREMENT THOUGHTS
She considered quitting the sport after failing to start the marathon at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro due to a stress fracture in her foot, having also previously failed to finish the marathon at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. She changed her mind and decided she would try and compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo after the Games were postponed. "I nearly quit the sport after the disaster I had in Rio. I told myself I'm finished. Then, in my mind, I thought I would run the 2024 Olympics because I still have unfinished business. But since nothing is happening [due to the COVID-19 lockdown] then why shouldn't I try to qualify for Tokyo." (thetoprunner.co.za, 08 Apr 2021; teamsa.co.za, 12 Aug 2016)

RUNNING WHILE PREGNANT
She continued to run while pregnant with her second child Gideon and broke the course record at the 2018 Soweto Marathon in Johannesburg, South Africa. She also went on to run 10,000m in 46 minutes four days before Gideon was born. "My second pregnancy started out differently, because at first I didn't know I was pregnant. Unknowingly, I raced a 10,000m race in Johannesburg, and the Soweto Marathon. This meant my fitness level was high, and I found it easier to run further than I had during my first pregnancy." She also competes in ultra marathon events and broke the 50km women's world record with a time of 3:04:23 at the Nedbank Runified race in Gqeberha, South Africa in May 2021. (thesouthafrican.com, 23 May 2021; news24.com, 05 Jul 2019; runnersworld.co.za, 20 Nov 2018)