08. Februar 2004  
Berlin  
Artistic Gymnastics

German gymnast Katja Abel seriously injured

Katja Abel (Berlin)

The seven-time German national champion and candidate for the Olympic Games Katja Abel got seriously injured last Friday. On an unlucky fall from the uneven bars she broke both of her forearms.
The 22-year old gymnast who has been in good shape and who has aspired to take part in the Olympic Games in Athens underwent surgery already on the same evening in the army hospital of Berlin...
According to Berlin coach Steffen Goedicke who has visited her today Katja was nonetheless reacting quite composed.
The accident happened on February 6th while she was training on uneven bars. While moving from the low to the high bar which she does with a new element in her routine, a straddled counterswing, she had too much power, overrotated and fell head first from the height of the high bar. Her arms unluckily came below her body and this led to fractures of ell and radius on both of her forearms.
'We didn’t even talk about the topic Olympics”, said Steffen Goedicke, ”but it is indeed quite sad that this dream has an ending like this. However, the process of her recovery is now much more important!”

Annelore Zinke, World Champion 1974

Parallels can be seen with a similar accident which had happened in June 1975 at a training camp of the GDR team. Annelore Zinke tried to do a “Janz” salto – also a move from the low to the high bar – and broke both of her elbows. Journalist Hans-Juergen Zeume remembers that at that point of time the journalists in the GDR were not even allowed to talk about this accident. Annlerore Zinke had been the World champion on uneven bars already the year before in 1974 and after her accident managed to come back into the GDR national team at a competition against Hungary in 1976.
E.Herholz / gymmedia