For Worley, watching was just as painful

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

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