Sender Unlikely to Compete

A freak injury has likely knocked National Champ David Sender out of the 2008 Olympic Trials. In Wednesday’s training session, which was watched by the media, Sender missed a Tkatchev on high bar and landed harmlessly on the mat. With the high bar still pinging above him, Sender jumped up to quiet the bar, slipping on the six-inch crash mat as he did so and not quite grasping the pipe. As his hand peeled off, Sender’s right foot slipped off the edge of the mat, and his weight crunched the ankle underneath him.

Falling to the ground, Sender immediately clutched his ankle and fellow competitor Jonathan Horton (Horton and Raj Bhavsar were also on the high bar podium when the accident occurred), called for U.S. men’s trainer Don Rackey. After an initial exam, U.S. team doctor Larry Nasser, who had quickly run to join Rackey, and floor manager Raleigh Wilson helped coach Thom Glielmi carry Sender off the podium. The gymnast was unable to put any weight on his right foot, which had already swollen significantly. After a few more minutes examining the foot, Sender left the arena in a wheelchair, wearing a protective boot cast, and headed to a nearby hospital.

Thus, a routine event—something that happens literally dozens of times a day in every gym across the country (though a coach is often the one to stabilize the bar and, in fact, both Glielmi and another coach on the podium were in the process of reaching for the bar when Sender jumped up)—turned into a Trials tragedy for the newly-crowned U.S. National Champion. "It's one of those things you do every day in the gym," Men’s Program Senior Director Dennis McIntyre told the media. "It's really unfortunate."

Sender, a senior at Stanford, sustained what has been described as a “moderate” ankle sprain, assessed by doctors as a “Level 2 to 3” sprain. He was cleared of more extensive damage by X-rays and an MRI yesterday in Philadelphia, but has been told by USA Gymnastics’ (USAG) doctors that competition is inadvisable. Reportedly, aggressive therapy was counseled and a timetable of “about two weeks” suggested before returning to the mats.

Average recovery time from ankle sprains can be anywhere from 2 to 12 weeks, depending on severity. For example, Trials competitor Justin Spring is still struggling with an ankle he sprained in late April, while Horton sustained a minor sprain only a week ago and was competing full floor routines within two days.

USAG has said Sender and Glielmi will decide on competing here on a “day-to-day basis,” but performing on floor and vault, Sender’s strongest events, looks all but impossible, and Sender has stated that he won’t compete at all in tonight’s prelims.

It’s possible Sender could touch the equipment tonight, to stay in the meet, and then compete a few events on Saturday, if his ankle improves, in an effort to impress the five-man Selection Committee (National Team Coordinator Ron Brant, McIntyre, Athlete Representative Jay Thornton, Coaches’ Representative Bill Foster and MPC member Stacy Maloney), but whatever he does, the National Champ’s Olympic fate is now in the hands of others.

Sender, who is currently on crutches, is staying in Philadelphia and being worked on by trainers on a daily basis.

If Sender does withdraw, he has the option to petition directly to the men’s U.S. Olympic Team, which must be finalized by July 1. (If he competes on Saturday at all, the rules seem to indicate he could be named to the “training team” on Sunday night, based on performance, not petition, but final decisions about team status must still be made by July 1.)

2004 Olympic Champion Paul Hamm, who broke his hand at the U.S. National Championships in Houston last month, is already expected to be named to the team via petition, a process Brant said was put into place solely for athletes of Hamm’s caliber.

A petition from Sender, a veteran of only one World Championships team (2006), is not as clear-cut as Hamm’s. In fact, many felt Sender, who is relatively untested internationally (he’s been to only two international meets since the ’06 Worlds), had to perform on par with his National Championship victory here in Philadelphia to assure himself a spot on the squad, though all who saw him workout in the Wachovia Center, prior to the injury, thought Sender looked very strong.

“You would have to have quite a history of success—the Paul Hamm type—and definitely have shown not only being on a World team, but that you’re competitive at a high level,” Brant told Inside in May of the men’s direct-to-team petition process. “That final petition is pretty reserved. It’s hard to get. We don’t have as many numbers as the women have and we have to protect our top guys, making sure everyone has a fair opportunity to make the team.”

Sender’s best international results are fourth place vault finishes at a World Cup event earlier this year and the Beijing Test Event last December. He is also the current U.S. champ on vault.

Unlike the women, the men do NOT have a final Selection Camp and no option to petition to a training team. If Sender’s petition were to be accepted he, like Hamm, would be ON the team, pending their showing of “readiness” at the camp. An athlete on the team can only be removed if he himself steps down or a demonstrable inability to compete is shown (if someone could not compete at all; an inability to be 100 percent is not enough). These rules are imposed by the U.S. Olympic Committee, which must approve all Olympic selection procedures, and are strictly upheld due to liability and fairness issues.

Prior to getting hurt, Sender was relaxed, happy and light-hearted. He and coach Glielmi were even joking around during a p-bar warm-up, when the coach repeatedly spritzed Sender with water from a spray bottle after he joked his charge was taking too long to prepare the bars. In talking with the media earlier that day, Sender was confident and almost constantly smiling, making his unusual and unfortunate injury even sadder in hindsight.

“I’m almost positive I’m not going to go for another four years,” Sender told Inside of his future plans, in an interview last week. “This is my shot. If it doesn’t work this time, I probably won’t ever do it again.”