Olympic gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu will not compete at Commonwealth Games
Another athlete has dropped out of the Commonwealth Games, and this time it’s 400m Olympic champion, Christine Ohuruogu of England.
Dani Samuels of Australia already announced her withdrawal from the Commonwealth Games earlier today after a weekend shooting, and an outbreak of dengue fever.
Ohuruogu has not made any statements about her withdrawal being due to the risk of contracting a disease or security concerns. Instead, she has decided to not compete because of a thigh injury.
She missed the European Championships this year because of the injury, and felt pain while training for the Commonwealth Games, prompting the withdrawal.
“With the 2012 Olympic Games on the horizon, the last thing an athlete wants to do is risk re-injury to the same muscle,” said Ohuruogu in a statement.
She will take a break from training to allow the injury to hopefully heal for good before continuing training in October.
“It was very important for me to be cautious in dealing with my previous injury,” she added, “although training was progressing well, intense competition over three days may prove to be more harmful than good, and may compromise the long-term functioning
of the muscle.”
Ohuruogu is the defending 400m Commonwealth Games champion, and also has a 2007 World Championship gold medal in the 400m.
The Commonwealth Games have seen a number of athletes drop out because of injury, or to rest their bodies for next year’s World Championships in South Korea and the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Adding to the health and security concerns, there is now concern that the infrastructure of the Games’ venues is not safe. A bridge collapsed earlier and the athlete’s village has been referred to as 'unliveable'.
More athletes are expected to withdrawal from the Games in the coming days.
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