Tracie’s Olympic Dream Comes To An End

KUALA LUMPUR: Top artistic gymnast Tracie Ang’s dream of qualifying for the London Olympic Games is over.

Women’s artistic coach Mikhail Gutsalyuk confirmed yesterday that he had dropped Tracie from the squad for the World Championships in Tokyo next month because of her ankle injury.

The world meet is the qualifying tournament for next year’s Olympic Games in London.

In Tracie’s absence, only Farah Ann Hadi is left to carry the torch for Malaysia in the world meet.

Tracie, who injured her ankle during the Asean Schools Games in Singapore in July, was dejected at missing the opportunity to compete in her first world meet.

On the mend: Gymnast Tracie Ang is recovering from an ankle injury and has been dropped from the World Championships squad.

“The cast on my ankle has been removed but I have not fully recovered. The world meet is next month and I am still not ready. It will take some time to get back my form,” said Tracie.

“I have been undergoing a rehabilitation programme and light intensity training since injuring my ankle. I have not competed in any warm-up tournaments because of this. My ankle still hurts when I do certain exercises.

“I am sad because I have really put in a lot of effort to be ready for the world meet since the start of the year. Injuries have really been a problem for me.”

The pint-sized lass, however, does not plan to give up the sport yet.

“I still believe I can do well if I am injury-free. I will try to hang on and make a comeback,” said Tracie, who is not the first gymnast under Gutsalyuk’s charge to have suffered from injuries.

Two others in the elite team – Noor Hasleen Fatihin Hasnan and Nur Ily Ilyana Azmi – are also carrying injuries.

Earlier this year, two top gymnasts – Cheong See Teng and Chan Sau Wah – quit the national team due to persistent shoulder and ankle injuries respectively.

With the national team in such a sorry state, it’s almost impossible for Malaysia to even hope for a medal at the SEA Games in Jakarta in November.

Gymnastics used to be one of the big medal contributors for Malaysia in the SEA Games.

Asked if Gutsalyuk’s coaching methods were too hard on the gymnasts, thus triggering the spate of injuries among the gymnasts since he took over the national team two years ago, Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) president Datuk Dr Zakaria Ahmad said he would wait for the coach’s report first.

“Coaches are responsible for the selection of athletes for tournaments and they know best the athletes’ conditions. Mikhail is a good coach and he has done well to raise the standard of our gymnasts,” said Zakaria.

“Gymnastics, especially artistic, is an injury-prone sport. The more we try to raise the level of difficulties, the more we risk the gymnasts getting injured. Anyway, I will look into Mikhail’s report on Tracie.”