Mustafina Out of 2011 Worlds With ACL Injury
Posted by garymcuesta on April 12, 2011
"AP Photo"
Berlin – Alyia Mustafina of Russia tore her ACL on Friday at the European Championships. She will undergo surgery this week.
The injury occurred on vault. Mustafina performed a two and a half twisting laid out Yurchenko as her first event in the all around final. This is not a new vault for the gymnast as she has been performing it for a little over a year now. According to doctors, a torn ACL can take from six to eight months to recover from post surgery. This means the reigning world all around champion will be out of the 2011 worlds in October.
Only time will tell if the injury can be overcome and if this young athlete will be able to compete in top form again. If Mustafina wants a good omen, American gymnast Annia Hatch tore her ACL during podium training at that 2003 World Championships and was able to heal in time to compete at the 2004 Athens games almost exactly one year later. Hatch took home a team silver medal as well as silver on vault.
The bigger picture is what this means for the rest of the gymnastics world. Mustafina has the Midas touch. Every time she competed, she would win at least one gold medal if not several. With no chance of competing at worlds this year, the floor is now wide open. And those who before had only dreamed of standing atop the podium can now dream it possible.
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