Elena Mukhina Badly Hurt In Gym Fall: MOSCOW, July 13, 1980
Elena Mukhina, the sensitive Soviet gymnast who won the women’s all-around world championship in 1978 and dreamed of regaining her lost form at the Moscow Olympics, crushed several vertebrae in her neck in a training accident and is hospitalized in Minsk following surgery, Soviet officials reported today.
The tiny, 20-year-old gymnast, whose erratic performances were blamed by coaches on her poetic and romantic nature, reportedly landed on her neck while practicing difficult acrobatic routines by herself. She was taken unconscious to a hospital.
Her condition was unclear. Some reports said doctors feared she was paralyzed, while others said she has use of her arms and legs and is able to speak. She has been placed in a neck cast and will be immobilized for several weeks.
According to the reports Mukhina was practicing the difficult maneuvers in disregard of orders from her coach and virtual foster father, Victor Klimenko, who had left Minsk for Moscow. He returned immediately when informed of the accident.
Mukhina took up gymnastics late, at age 9, but won the Soviet junior championship within six years. Two years ago, at 17, she captured the world spotlight by defeating Romanian Nadia Comaneci, the heroine of the 1976 Olympics, for the world title in Strasburg.
