Italy's Asia D'Amato will miss Paris 2024 with knee injury
2022 European all-around champion Asia D'Amato will miss the upcoming Olympic Games Paris 2024 after suffering a knee injury during the qualifying round of the European Gymnastics Championships on 2 May that requires surgery, according to an update from the Italian Gymnastics Federation.
D'Amato's injury is to her left ACL, according to the update, the same knee she injured at last year's Cairo World Cup. The 21-year-old is scheduled undergo surgery on Monday (13 May) in Austria.
The surgeon is likely to be Dr. Jürgen Barthofer, who has previously operated on D'Amato and twin sister Alice D'Amato's ACLs.
It's been a string up setbacks for the six-time European medallist and two-time World Championships medal winner, dating back to an ankle injury at the 2022 Europeans followed by the knee injury last April.
Through the tough times, D'Amato says she's found inspiration in other gymnasts facing similar circumstances.
“Rebeca Andrade is an inspiration to me because she has also faced many tough injuries, and as we see her now, she is stronger than ever," D’Amato told Olympics.com in an interview earlier this year. "So, after every fall, you can definitely come back stronger than before.”
In the update, the Italian Federation offered its support to one of their biggest stars.
"The Italian gymnastics community now rallies around their little fairy, who was an Olympic competitor in Tokyo 2021 and the all-around European queen in Munich in 2022, in the hope of seeing her soon take flight again!" the federation's release concluded.
