Former Commonwealth champion Alys Thomas says she has been advised to end her career immediately to avoid possible permanent damage to her wrist.

Her wrist problems began with a cartilage tear over a decade ago, and have left her with “the arthritis of a 60-year-old”.

“It’s a lot to take in,” said Thomas.

“It’s a lot to get my head around. As an athlete, I want to carry on.

“I said to the consultant: ‘What can you do for me in order for me to just stay in the water and stay competitive and train the way I want to and need to?’ Unfortunately there was nothing they were able to do.”

Thomas was planning to compete at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

But she said: “It was set out to me that the state of my joint and my wrist was not good and if I were to continue loading the joint and the daily grind of training that potentially I would lose function in my hand and in my wrist.”

Winning Commonwealth gold was a breakthrough moment for Thomas – her Games record of two minutes 5.45 seconds in the women’s final catapulting her into the elite.

She finished seventh at last year’s Olympics but has now revealed she had been managing the pain in her right wrist for a decade.

Thomas had torn the cartilage before her first Commonwealths – Delhi 2010 – but hoped surgery would fix it.

Yet the problem persisted, and Thomas said she has had to cope with the pain since – initially through steroid injections but more recently through tape and painkillers.

“Over the last two years or so it’s been more and more difficult to manage pain-wise,” she said.

“My tolerance levels are high on the whole but it’s getting more and more difficult to get what I need to do in training in order to stay competitive within the sport.

“At the moment I find it difficult to drive a car, cut up my food, pick things up, writing. But the athlete brain, as toxic as it is… I don’t really care about that stuff as long as I can swim. The longer I think about that way of thinking, the more I think that’s not a healthy way to think.

“I need a functioning wrist in day-to-day life. I need a functioning hand in order to be able to do those things. Ultimately, if I’m not going to be able to swim, I need to take care of the health of my body, the health of my wrist.

“I am really sad that it’s come to an end this way.”

‘No regrets’

After returning from her fourth Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Thomas said the pain had begun to take its toll as she finished sixth in the women’s 200m butterfly final, almost five seconds off her record from four years ago.

She took a planned break from the sport and attended an appointment with a specialist consultant about her wrist.

Asked if she has any regrets about pushing through the pain for so long, she is clear.

“None,” she said. “I could’ve stopped when they told me I first needed surgery on it. If I did that, I wouldn’t have gone to one Commonwealth Games.

“I wouldn’t have met half the people I’ve met. I wouldn’t have travelled to half of the places I’ve been. I wouldn’t have had any of the experiences I’ve had. I wouldn’t have reached any of the potential I’ve reached.

“To me, it was all my decision to carry on. No-one told me at that point I had to stop. It was this point. A top consultant has told me I have to stop, that enough is enough, and it’s serious enough for me to listen.

“I think at all the other points it was deemed fixable, it was deemed manageable, and my drive and motivation was enough to carry me through.

Thomas said she had received “world-class” support from Swim Wales and British Swimming and “couldn’t have asked for any more”.

Even as the pain got worse, the stark reality of the consultant’s advice hit Thomas hard.

She said she still feels “numb” and her “delusional state” means part of her still believes she can secure a podium place in Paris.

But her immediate priority is rest and recovery in the hope the wrist injury that has ended her career does not lead to longer-term problems.

With time, she says she will come to terms with her competitive career coming to an end in this way.

And she now hopes to go on coaching courses so she can begin a new chapter in the sport. After 13 years training in Swansea, the former champion wants to pass on her experiences to help the next generation of Welsh swimmers.