I’m gutted: Australian hurdles champion Sally Pearson pulls out of Olympic Games due to injury
The 29-year-old won gold in the 100 metres hurdles in London four years ago and had only just returned from shattering her wrist
Australia’s Olympic sprint hurdles champion Sally Pearson said she was ‘gutted’ after a hamstring tendon tear she picked up in training forced her to pull out of the Rio de Janeiro Games on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old, who won gold in the 100 metres hurdles at the London Olympics, had battled back after being sidelined for a year by a shattered wrist only to suffer the hamstring injury training at her base on the Gold Coast.
“It’s a hard time for me at the moment. I’m disappointed and I’m gutted,” Pearson told Australia’s Nine Network on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, it is the biggest sporting event in the world that I am going to be missing out on and I can’t be a part of. It’s devastating that I can’t be at Rio as the Olympic champ.”
Pearson’s hopes of defending her title at the Olympics Games had looked slim after a fall at the Golden Gala meeting in Rome last year shattered her wrist so badly, she feared her left forearm might need to be amputated.