After 13 years of hard landings in gymnastics, one ski run had delivered the biggest injury of my career.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I damaged my hamstring at the London Olympics and had to stop training for five months. At times, I thought my career was over.
I was a gymnast for years.
I was a semi-professional gymnast as a child. I did rhythmic gymnastics, but I sustained an injury and strained all the muscles in my spine.
The worst injury I ever had was a stress fracture from running.
I got injured at the Olympic Trials in 2000. I could not jump. I could not walk on my leg properly. I couldn't bend my knee. I couldn't straighten it.
In some ways the ACL tear was a blessing. I had hesitated to return to elite gymnastics after the 2008 Olympics. I told myself I had already accomplished so much, and the road was just going to get harder if I continued.
I worked hard in gymnastics since the time I was six years old until I retired at 23 years of age.
It might have been easier to retire, to say my knee couldn't handle it and let that be that. At the same time, the prospect of not being able to compete in gymnastics anymore was heartbreaking.
It sounds funny, but the 2008 Olympics were something that just kind of happened, and I was lucky they came at a point when I was uninjured and well prepared. As a gymnast, you can't ask for much more.
I never had a serious injury that kept me out of a big competition. Now everyone has injuries - to their feet or their knees or their backs.