When you first ever watched a gymnastics competition you must have been in awe at the difficulty but surely a thought about how dangerous the sport is also crossed your mind. It wasn’t always like that, when women began competing at the Olympic level in 1928 gymnastics was a lot more basic. Gradually it began to increase its difficulty, sadly, rules to protect the gymnasts did not advance equally as fast.
The first casualty of this lack of protection happened on July 3rd, 1980 when 20-year-old Yelena Mukhina landed a Thomas Salto on her chin. This is a roll out skill which means gymnasts do not land feet first. The skill was commonly competed by male gymnasts and Mukhina’s coach wanted her to be the first female to perform it, if possible, at the home Olympics that were quickly approaching. However, Mukhina was recovering from a broken leg and not ready to perform such a skill. She was instantly left quadriplegic with no movement below her shoulders.
Can you imagine what she had to face? Secrecy about her accident and no technology to help her in everyday life. Still, the Thomas Salto was later famously competed by Yelena Shushunova between 1984 and 1988 and it was last performed in 1992. It is now banned but it only took 12 years since Mukhina’s accident. Yelena lived 26 years with quadriplegia passing away on December 22nd 2006.
In the late 80s the Yurchenko vault was a novelty and considered extremely difficult. Its basic technique is now mastered by thousands of gymnasts around the world but thirty something years ago it was still very new and risky.
In 1988, U.S. elite Julissa Gómez, who had previously trained with Bela Karolyi, was now training with Al Fong. Among her international assignments was the Worlds Sports Fair in Japan where she qualified to the vault final. Statements from witnesses that watched her train vault said she had not mastered the Yurchenko technique and should not have attempted it in competition. Julissa was only 15 so that responsibility was on her coach’s shoulders who did nothing about it.
On May 5th, 1988 her right foot missed the springboard and she crashed headfirst at full speed into the vault. Like Mukhina she was instantly paralysed from the neck down. To make matters worse during her hospital stay her ventilator became disconnected depriving her from oxygen that left her in a coma. She was cared for by her family until her demise from an infection on August 8, 1991 at age 19.
To prevent accidents like Julissa’s, today a collar is placed around the springboards when gymnasts are set to perform Yurchenko vaults. Now, if they miss their foot on the springboard, they still have the collar to help them keep their stability and momentum so they can land on the other side safely.
That being said, today is also mandatory to land feet first to be awarded a score. In recent years the Produnova vault has been the vault with more zeros awarded yet gymnasts kept attempting it because if they got a score, it was sky high, even with a fall. Plenty of times we saw gymnasts take risks like Julissa and Mukhina did and fortunately everyone was spared. Today the Produnova is a downgraded vault to keep gymnasts and coaches from seeking a vault final at death defying costs.
Ten years after Julissa Gomez’s accident, at the vault final of the 1998 Goodwill Games Sang Lan was left paralysed from the chest down after a timer vault went wrong. How can a timer vault go so horribly wrong from an experienced gymnast? Apparently, a mat to cushion the landing was removed from her landing space and she likely got distracted in the air because of it. In 2011 she sued Time Warner (organizer of the event) for failing to follow through on promises to make sure her medical bills were covered. She received a 10 million settlement.
Three years later, in 2001, the vault table was completely redesigned to what it is today. Likely the revamp was partially because of Sang Lan’s accident and also because the growing difficulty of the sport. The Produnova vault is considered unsafe in today’s vaulting table well, Yelena Produnova debuted it in 1999 on the old vaulting table.
On January 28th, 2014 news broke that Lais Souza, who was hoping for a Winter Olympic berth in the sport of aerial skill, had become paralyzed. If you think gymnastics is dangerous, you will have a heart attack watching aerial skiing and thinking of all that can go wrong. In this winter sport athletes perform acrobatic skills several feet above the air, one miscalculation and your life is changed forever.
However, Lais’ accident was not like that, it happened while she was “just” skiing at Park City, Utah. She hit her head at full speed with a tree and in an instant her life became just like Mukhina’s. While similar in injury it will never be the same, unlike Mukhina, the technology today gives Lais a chance of a more comfortable life.
We were still recovering from the Lais news when we heard 16-year-old German elite Elisa Chirino had fallen from the uneven bars and was paralysed. Her recovery was long and ardous however she is now a psychology student in college. Unlike Lais’ she does have some arm and hand movement, she can write for example. In the “Stay strong Elisa” Facebook page you can follow her life today.
And now a new name has, unfortunately, been added to this list, the one of Australian junior elite Ava Costa. A fall from beam has changed her life forever and she is only 14. Her determination to stay strong through this extreme life challenge is to be profoundly admired. Her family has started the “Walking With Ava” foundation where you can donate and follow her progress. She can steer her own wheelchair so she has arm and hand movement.
All these incredible human beings are facing challenges we, regular folks, can only glimpse in our worst nightmares. And they are doing it with strength, determination and positivity to become an example to society worldwide.
Source of the pictured: Lais Souza’s Instagram
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