After a tragic fall during a performance that left both her knees dislocated, a star gymnast is prematurely retiring from her athletic career.
On Friday night, at the Baton Rouge Regional meet, 22-year-old Auburn University gymnast Samantha Cerio was attempting a handspring double front flip with a blind landing when she landed incorrectly, suffering serious injuries that left her screaming in pain. Following the fall, Cerio was removed from the meet on a stretcher.
Speaking of the fall, Auburn coach Jeff Graba told Nola.com that “it was pretty tough to watch,” but added that Cerio “is a trouper.” Though Louisiana State University coach D-D Breaux didn’t see the fall happen live, she said the gruesome incident “was really upsetting.” (Warning: the video is extremely graphic, and discretion is advised.)
Two days after the fall, in a lengthy and emotional Instagram post, Cerio announced that Friday her was last performance, and that “after 18 years, [she was] hanging up [her] grips and leaving the chalk behind.”
“I couldn’t be prouder of the person that gymnastics has made me to become,” she wrote. “It may not have ended the way I had planned, but nothing ever goes as planned.”
Though original reports suggested that Cerio had broken both legs, Graba announced via Twitter statement on Monday that she had instead dislocated both her knees and torn multiple ligaments, and that she was scheduled to undergo surgery that day. Then, nearly 24 hours later, Graba updated his followers that the procedure had been an “extreme success.”
“We know the road for full healing is going to be a long and difficult one, but we are confident that she’ll be able to make a complete recovery,” he tweeted.