One pushing athlete, European, right to the very south of ground (7)
I believe the answer is:
trainer
'south of ground' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'one pushing athlete european right to the' is the wordplay.
'one pushing athlete european' becomes 'raine' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'right' becomes 'r' (common abbreviation).
'to' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'the' becomes 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects).
'raine'+'r'='rainer'
'rainer' put after 't' is 'TRAINER'.
'very' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for trainer that I've seen before include "Sports instructor" , "Plimsoll or sneaker" , "Soft shoe; simulator" , "Running shoe" , "Sports coach" .)