Skye Blakely injures herself on floor during training at U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials
MINNEAPOLIS — Skye Blakely, a strong contender for the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team, was injured in training Wednesday and was crying as she left the floor in a wheelchair.
Blakely, 19, was on floor exercise, her final event of the day, when she landed a pass and immediately fell to the mat. She was sobbing as members of the Team USA medical staff lifted her off the mat and into a wheelchair, where she was wheeled off the floor. Moments after Blakely exited the arena, Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead on the U.S. women's high-performance team, approached her coaches and hugged them.
USA Gymnastics did not immediately have an update on Blakely. The five-member Olympic team will be announced Sunday, following two days of competition.
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Blakely was a member of the last two world championships teams, both of which won gold, and had improved her standing at the U.S. championships earlier this month. She finished second to Simone Biles, and her upgraded vault on the first night earned the only 15 of the entire competition besides those by Biles. Blakely missed the Olympic trials three years ago after injuring herself during vault warmups the first night of competition.