November 21, 2008

Injuries: Barbosa, Ferrari, Severino

Rumor has it that China beat Russia, Australia, Brazil, France senior, Romania, the Netherlands, and France junior (in that order) at the Massilia Gym Cup, but we haven't seen any official results yet, so we guess we'll just have to talk about injuries instead.

There's still no news about Jade Barbosa, who was supposed to have an MRI scan a few days ago. We're keeping an eye on the Brazilian sports sites, but so far there haven't been any updates. We hope that doesn't mean Jade is bracing herself for a retirement announcement.

Photobucket
Vanessa Ferrari (photo: Gazzetta dello Sport)

We do have news about Vanessa Ferrari. A few days ago, a major Italian sports paper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, posted an update on the former world champion with the somewhat worrying title, "Ferrari, A Cannibal Experiencing an Identity Crisis." Reportedly the 18-year-old from Brixia, who has been suffering from an Achilles tendon injury and deep bursitis in her right leg for some time now, is getting very frustrated because despite 3 months' rest and 2 months' rehab [presumably these two overlap, as we could have sworn we saw Vanessa at the Olympics 3 months ago...], she is nowhere near healthy enough to resume training. "The Cannibal" (as she is known in the Italian press) will have physical therapy for one more month before deciding whether another operation is in order. If she ever makes it back to the gym, she'll have her work cut out for her, as it seems she has some excess weight to shed. According to the Gazzetta dello Sport, "Vani" is currently seven kilos (15.4 Lbs) overweight. Yeah, that would plunge us into an identity crisis too.

Good luck, Vanessa. We hope to see you back at some point, with or without those added 7 kilos.

Photobucket
Isabelle Severino

Meanwhile, it seems that Isabelle Severino, who tore her Achilles tendon just before the Europeans, actually called it quits a few days after the accident. However, she's not totally done with the sport. Rumor has it Severino is running for a position in the Directorate of the French Gymnastics Federation. Elections are to be held next week, on November 29. Stay tuned...

No comments:

Post a Comment