For Worley, watching was just as painful

NEW WAVERLY, Texas -- Shayla Worley, with her broken right leg propped up and in a brace, had to watch from the sidelines as her USA gymnastics teammates went through their paces in front of the final U.S. Olympic selection panel here at Bela and Martha Karolyi's ranch.

It wasn't easy. There were some tears as she sat there, one day after X-rays confirmed her leg was broken. She had been attempting to go through her warmup for the balance-beam routine when the pain became too much.

At the end of tonight's routines, she said that as long as the U.S. wins an Olympic gold medal, "it will be OK."

"It's been sore," she said of her leg. "It had been bothering me a little while. I was hoping it was just a little bit of shin splints. (The break) came out of nowhere. It hurt."

She had not even considered something like this could happen.

"I think it's still kind of settling in. I keep hoping I'll wake up and this was a dream. Or a nightmare. It's devastating, but I'm here to support the team. As long as USA wins it's all good."

Will she be back in four years?

"Four years is a long time. My goal was always to be an Olympian and it's still a goal. It was hard watching tonight. I'm trying to put a happy face on it and be happy for everybody else."

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Shayla Worley, her leg propped up, is surrounded by her fellow gymnasts during the final day of competition at the USA Gymnastics Olympic selection camp. Credit: David J. Phillip / Associated Press

Comments

[So Cal Jack]

Unless you have a daughter who's totally driven to gymnastics as ours is, you can't possibly realize what a grueling and physically demanding sport this is. Our daughter less than two years ago shattered her elbow and had to have reconstructive surgery, but she's back competing again without any hesitation; while this has to be devastating to Worley, she'll be back... it's just in a gymnists blood to do so.

[Erin Van Tassel]

We live in Orlando and were pulling for Shayla. Our hearts go out to her, but she is a winner and our message to her is this: train hard to come back, because you have a rare gift. Look at the great Russian gymnast, Svetlana Khorkina, who competed well into her 20s. There are no limits to what you can do.

Good luck and we look forward to seeing you out there on the mats soon.