Aussie gymnast Georgia Godwin to miss Paris 2024 Olympics due to Achilles injury
Godwin, part of the Australian team that obtained an Olympic quota last year, suffered the injury while training ahead of the national championships.
Australian gymnast Georgia Godwin has ruled herself out of the Paris 2024 Olympics after sustaining an Achilles injury during training earlier this week.
Godwin, who won the gold medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the artistic individual all-around and vault events, shared the news through her social media account on Thursday.
“Less than 80 days from Paris (Olympics), I have sustained an Achilles injury. It’s extremely heartbreaking. It’s not ideal. I’m looking forward to the next few steps,” Godwin said.
“I’ll be heading back to Brisbane, having a chat with the surgeon. We’ll just see where we go from there,” the 26-year-old gymnast added.
Godwin, a two-time World Cup silver medallist, was part of the Australian women’s squad that secured a team quota for the Paris 2024 Olympics at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships last year. She also represented Australia at the Tokyo Olympics in the all-around event after missing the Rio 2016 Olympics due to injuries.
Godwin was initially slated to compete at the Australian Gymnastic Championships that got underway on Thursday. She is a seven-time national champion and one of the five Australian gymnasts with a signature move (the Godwin) named after her in the FIG code of points.
“I’m not entirely sure what the recovery process looks like moving forward, but I’ve got an amazing team around me and trying to be as positive as possible. I’ll need a bit of time to process everything,” Godwin stated.
Godwin’s injury is the second blow for the Australian gymnastics team ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Blake Rutherford, the highest-ranked men's trampoline gymnast during Olympic qualifying, also suffered an injury in training.
"Gymnastics Australia is devastated for George and Blake, our staff is providing both athletes with the organisation's full support," Gymnastics Australia informed through a statement released on Thursday.