"I had days where I would go to the gym, do a warm up and then start crying."

Team England's Fraer Morrow has had a difficult few years.

The 26-year-old weightlifter won 55kg bronze at Birmingham 2022 before everything came crashing down, with an unknown back injury and weight class change ending her Olympic ambitions.

Morrow was the fittest and strongest she'd ever been leading into her home Commonwealth Games, clocking a total of 198kg to win her first senior international medal.

But just two months later, a lower back pain saw her training thrown out of the window and after two years, doctors have still been unable to locate the reason behind her pain.

"I don't even remember how it started," she said.

"I just remember my wrist started hurting and then it was all lower back pain.

"I couldn't even describe it to anyone. Normally back pain travels to different places, but mine didn't hurt anywhere else than this specific area.

"It started as a dull pain but then sometimes would be harsh or flicker between the two.

"It just didn't get better and got to the point where sneezing or coughing would hurt. I took some time off weightlifting and instead did body building movements to make it more manageable.

"But it's still there. I've been for scans on my back and no one can tell me what it is. I just want to know."

Morrow has been weightlifting for around ten years but has never experienced a setback like this before, now unable to train for long periods at a time.

However, while struggling to manage her pain, Morrow was also faced with a new challenge.

Naturally competing in the 55kg category, a new rule saw Morrow's weight class omitted from the Olympic programme and she was instead forced to make a choice: go up or down a weight class to qualify for Paris 2024.

But her decision to drop to the 49kg category only left her experiencing more illness and pain.

"Round about the time my back started acting up, I had to decide whether I was going to qualify for the Olympics, but I had to change my weight class to do so," she said.


"With the pain I was experiencing, I knew that it would be difficult to go up a weight class so I decided to drop the weight and keep the strength I had.

"But to drop a weight class I had to lose nine kilos. You don't realise how much food changes your life until you do something like that.

"Every competition, I just got worse and worse because my body didn't want to be at 49kg.

Whenever I got to 52kg I would just get ill."

With Olympic qualification providing an ever-present background, Morrow was also juggling starting a new college psychology course and buying a house.

It left her struggling with her mental health and no longer enjoying the sport she has always loved.

"There was so much stress and it all just got on top of me," she said.

"I might even get through the training session but on every rep I would have tears coming from my eyes.

"For me, I started weightlifting not thinking about competition but because I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being strong and the movements.


"When it got to the point where I didn't even want to step foot in the gym, that was the turning point."

The decision led to Morrow deciding to withdraw from Olympic qualification and instead prioritise her mental health.

It was a tough decision for the Team England athlete but a realistic one after forcing herself to be honest with her position.

"Every competition, I just slowly did not want to be there," she said. "There were just too many obstacles to get over.

"It felt like one after the other there was things going wrong and I didn't know how to manage it.

"I tried a few sports therapists but I didn't really like it.

"I know how I feel and if something has to be done I don't just sit back, I will try and find a solution.

"Because I had so many people around me, saying that I could get back, I just wanted people to start being realistic with me. I wanted people to be honest.

"Someone needed to tell me to have a rest and look after my mental health instead."

After a month off to come to terms with her position, Morrow is now back enjoying herself in the gym.

With a slow and steady approach, the Doncaster-born athlete is training three times a week and admitted rest has refuelled her love for the sport.

And as an athlete, Morrow is already planning her next goals, with dreams of competing at her beloved Commonwealth Games once more.

"The Commonwealth Games are just fun competitions to do," she said.

"The past two Games I've done, everyone is enjoying themselves even though there's the pressure to get medals.

"It was my first really big international and so it will always be important to me and has made me want to carry on to the next ones."