English gymnast Gabriel Langton admitted he feared for his future in the sport after a “freak” horror fall at the Commonwealth Games.
The 19-year-old fell head-first from three metres after missing his catch on the horizontal bar during the men’s team event in Glasgow, spending the night in hospital.
“I knew that I could talk still, I could move a lot of things but I was just hoping that I could do gym again really,” said Langton, after scans revealed nothing worse than soreness and swelling.
“With other injuries like a leg injury, it’s not nice but you know most of the time that those things will heal. I suppose neck injuries are to be taken seriously, so I was just hoping that it wasn’t anything too bad.
“When I got the scans back, it was a big relief. My thought process switched quite quickly to being ‘I should be back in the gym quite soon.’”
Langton returned to the team hotel on Saturday, where he was reunited with his England teammates and presented with a silver medal.
The gymnast, who was not concussed and never lost consciousness during the incident, said he did not expect the accident to have a lasting impact.
“I’ve done that skill so many times probably about 10 000 times and this has happened once,” he said.
“I think you can see that this was just a freak accident and it was just a shame that it happened under these circumstances.
“I’m pretty confident that I can put it to one side and trust in my gymnastics again.”-The Independent
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