An American gymnast suffered deadly injuries during a fall from the uneven bars. This was reported by her university.
According to her, 20-year-old Melanie Coleman died of massive spinal cord injury two days after her accident in New Haven, Connecticut. The nursing student was considered one of the best college gymnasts in the USA.
Check out this post on Instagram
Southern Connecticut State University athlete Melanie Coleman, 20, of Milford, Conn. Coleman passed on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019 after sustaining an injury during training on Friday, Nov. 8. • Melanie's family has set up a GoFundMe.com page, as well as a page of the meal rate donations to the family at MealTrain. com. • Please consider donating to help support Coleman family during this difficult time. Find the link in our bio. • #AlwaysAnOwl #AlwaysFamily #FlyHighMC ☀️
A post shared by SCSU Athletics (@scsu_owls) on Nov 11, 2019 at 10:46 PST
"Melanie was a very bright student, an excellent athlete and a committed member of the Southern Connecticut community," said the sports director of her university, Southern Conneticut State University. Everyone is very sad about their loss.
Fatal accidents are extremely rare in artistic gymnastics. What happens again and again is paraplegia, usually after falls during the jump or from the ingot. In Germany were affected the top athletes Christel Müller (1979), Ronny Ziesmer (2004) and Elisa Chirino (2014).
Three-times world champion Elena Muchina from Russia suffered a cervical vertebra fracture while training on the ground in preparation for the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Adriana Duffy (1989) from Puerto Rico and Sang Lan from China (1998) also rely on wheelchairs after heavy falls.
