When Mary-Anne Monckton's name was missing from the Australian Test Event Team, the Gymternet went into panic mode trying to figure out what happened to the two-time 2014 Commonwealth Silver Medalist. Minutes later, news broke that Mez had torn her ACL and would need surgery, and as a result will miss the Olympics. This comes as a huge blow for the Australian Federation, who is coached by Peggy Liddick, the transplanted American. Monckton won the 2010 Australian All Around Title, helped Australia finish 6th at the Team Final in Tokyo 2011, but ultimately missed the 2012 Olympic Team. Monckton was named to the 2014 World Championship, and helped Australia finish in seventh, but later injured her ankle and missed the early part of 2015. After coming back strong from her ankle injury, she was named to the 2015 Australian World Team, where they failed to qualify to the Olympics this year, and instead will have to qualify at the Test Event in April. This injury, which occurred at the 2016 Pacific Rim Internal Trials on a double twisting Yurchenko, is a big loss to Australia. Monckton has expressed her interest to compete at the 2017 World Championships in Montreal, Canada.
Roxi Popa Re-injures Knee; Will Miss Rio
The Romania-Born, Spanish-Raised gymnast Roxi Popa will miss the 2016 Olympic Test Event, and subsequently the 2016 Olympics due to another knee injury. Popa had surgery to repair her ACL and meniscus in late 2014, and missed the 2015 competitive season. Popa is far and away the best gymnast in Spain, and had already been selected to represent Spain at the test event. Spain qualified two gymnasts to the test event, and if the qualify a spot to the Olympics this summer, they must send a gymnast that competed at the test event. So even if Popa recovers from her knee surgery in time (which is unlikely), she will not be able to compete at the Olympics.
Jonna Adlerteg Ruptures Meniscus; Will Miss Rio
Jonna Adlerteg from Sweden injured her meniscus this weekend at the Doha World Cup on her dismount from bars in the final. Adlerteg had a beautiful bars routine in qualifications, scoring a 15 and qualifying first into the finals. In the finals, Adlerteg scored a 14.925 and won the gold by seven tenths. However, Adlerteg was in serious discomfort after her dismount, and was unable to accept her gold medal. Once back in Sweden, it was announced that she tore her meniscus, but is thankful that her ACL is fine. Much like Roxi Popa of Spain, Adlerteg is unable to compete at the Olympics as Sweden did not qualify a team to the Test Event, and they must send a gymnast who competes there to Rio later this summer.
Norah Flatley Has Minor Surgery
Norah Flatley has been considered a front runner for the Olympics since she qualifyed elite in 2013, as she hails from the same club that brought the world Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas. Even though she has not been in a competition since 2014, people do not doubt that Chow will work the same magic with Norah that he did in the Olympic year with Johnson and Douglas, both of whom won Olympic Golds. However, those thoughts seemed to stand still after Flatley posted a picture with teammate Victoria Nguyen of her in a boot. Not much is known about the extend of the injury, but according to Lauren Hopkins of thegymter.net, it was a minor suregry. We are hoping for a quick recovery for Flatley and that she will come back stronger than ever this summer!
Catalina Ponor Shines in Competitive Return
Catalina Ponor of Romania started off yet another comeback with yet another win this weekend at the Doha World Cup. Ponor won three gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics with the Romanian Team, on Beam and on Floor. Ponor continued to compete into the next quadrennium, where she competed at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships, and retired for the first time. Ponor came back to training in March 2011, and later competed at the Tokyo World Championships and the 2012 Olympic Games, where she won the silver medal with the Team and placed fourth in the beam final, after losing a tie-breaker to American Aly Raisman. She once again retired. Ponor stunned the Gymternet by once again returning to training in early 2015, but missed the 2015 World Championships, where Romania placed thirteenth, and missed direct qualification to the Olympics. Ponor will be on the Romania team for the Test Event. In Doha, Ponor won the Gold on Beam, and looks ahead to the Test Event. If Romania wants to qualify a team to the Olympics, they need Ponor to be back at her 2004/2012 level.
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