Taekwondist refuses surgery, pursues Olympic title
(Xinhua/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-05-16 14:10 Double Olympic champion Chen Zhong, targeting her
third Olympic taekwondo title in a row, decided not to repair her torn cruciate
ligament until the end of Beijing Games.
Taekwondist Chen Zhong
attends award ceremony for China Taekwondo Ten-year Development in Jin
Hua, east China Zhejiang Province while National Taekwondo
Championships there on Monday. [Xinhua] |
"I have decided to let it be because it would need a long period to recover
after surgery, which would seriously affect my training and preparations for the
2008 Games," the 24-year-old told Xinhua at the National Championships here on
Monday.
Chen won women's +67kg in Sydney, where the sports was formally introduced
into an Olympic Games, but has been suffering from right knee problems since
2002.
She overcame the injury to retain her title in the 2004 Athens Games before
undergoing an operation to remove her seriously damaged meniscus last year.
"Doctors told me it's better also to have the ligament reconstruction surgery
now. But the 2008 Olympic Games is a very precious opportunity, maybe the sole
in my life, to realize my dream of snatching three successive Olympic titles."
she said.
"It's worthwhile to take the risk. And in Athens, I made it with the torn
ligament. I did it once, and I think I could do it for a second time."
Chen, who did not compete in the national championships, was working hard on
her rehabilitation course, which was designed to strengthen lower limbs muscle.
Her coach Chen Liren, who had guided her to Sydney and Athens glory, said he
had to respect her decision.
"The muscle tissue, to some degree, could substitute for the mechanical
strength of the knee ligament," he said.
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