By Emma Kemp
Six weeks ago, Katrina Gorry was negotiating uncertainty on a few fronts.
Waiting for the birth of her second child, unsure if her season-ending ankle injury would be good to go for the Olympics, and whether Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson would consider her fit enough for selection.
Katrina Gorry is all set to contest her first Olympics since Rio 2016.Credit: Visionhaus via Getty Images
Now she is in national team camp in the south of Spain, preparing with the main squad for a Paris 2024 campaign starting in a fortnight – while navigating the juggle of parenting two kids.
A lot had to go right for the 31-year-old, a key figure in Australia’s 2023 World Cup midfield, to be where she is right now.
There was surgery in April to repair the syndesmosis rupture sustained while playing for West Ham, followed by gruelling rehab while supporting her fiancee Clara Markstedt through the latter stages of pregnancy and also caring for her three-year-old daughter Harper.
“West Ham were really supportive of me being in Sweden and doing my rehab there, so really grateful for that,” Gorry said on Monday from the Spanish resort precinct of Marbella. “I did a lot of running sessions by myself, tried to get myself fit and back in the team.
“I’ve been in full training for the last couple of weeks, and haven’t missed a beat really. It has been really nice to be back, and under the care of the national team.”
She is not alone. Harper, the Matildas’ unofficial mascot, has been a regular fixture in camp since her birth in August 2021. This time she and Markstedt, a recently retired Swedish footballer, are joined by their four-week-old son Koby.
“We are trying to figure out how to juggle now two kids, but we’re doing it pretty well,” Gorry said. “We had to wait until the little one came into the world to see what it looked like, but the national team have been really supportive of everything. So Clara and the kids are here, mum will meet us over in France just to help out a little bit more, and then everything goes on as usual.”
The Matildas’ Olympic campaign begins on July 25 against Germany in Marseille, before the team travel to Nice to face Zambia on July 28, before rounding out their Group B fixtures with a blockbuster against Emma Hayes’ United States back in Marseille on July 31.
First, though, the Matildas will complete their preparation with a final warm-up friendly against defending Olympic champions Canada, in Marbella on Saturday night (Sunday 5am, AEST).
For Gorry, that hit-out will provide a valuable pre-Games reunion with midfield partner Kyra Cooney-Cross, with whom she has remained in close contact during her months on the sidelines.
It also allows her to soak up the feeling of a first Olympics berth since Rio 2016, which could yet also be her last major tournament, depending on whether she pushes on towards the home Asian Cup in 2026.
“For me the main focus was to get myself here fit and healthy, and we’ll see what happens after that. I want to play for the national team as long as I can,” she said.
“Obviously [it was] really difficult to miss Tokyo [in 2021], but I got to have Harper, so it’s all been a pretty incredible journey. Now to be here and get to share it with my family, and to know that I got back from the injury, is really special to me.”
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