Australian Olympic BMX hopeful Renee Junga may never walk again after a freak bike accident in Rotorua.
The 20-year-old crashed her bike on Tuesday afternoon while training for her race yesterday in the 2006 UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships.
She was taken to Rotorua Hospital with possible spinal
injuries and underwent an MRI CAT scan and x-rays before being flown to Auckland Hospital about 10.30pm.
Another Australian cyclist, former mountainbike world champion Wade Bootes, was being monitored overnight in Rotorua Hospital after he crashed in yesterday's qualifying round of the four cross and suffered a broken nose, broken collar bone and concussion.
Cycling Australia communications director Gennie Sheer said Junga had two broken ribs, a broken sternum, breaks to her first and second vertebrae in her neck and to the middle of her back, quite a few bruises and dislocated bones.
Ms Sheer said the biggest worry now was that Junga's spinal cord had been damaged and she would never walk again.
"She doesn't have any feeling from the bottom of her rib cage down. It could just be a spinal shock.
"We're not jumping to any conclusions until we have a clearer picture."
Junga will undergo surgery tomorrow to stabilise her spine.
Ms Sheer said the accident was a shock and her Australian team would be thinking of her while they compete.
"It really is a freak accident. People crash all the time but not [like] this."
After seeing others fall short on the course's first double jump yesterday, Junga pedalled harder on approach.
"I took an extra couple of cranks but overshot it and missed the landing completely," she said.
The bike landed flat on both wheels, knocking her off and head first into the next jump. She had some words of advice for competitors at the championships: "Don't put those extra cranks in on the double."
Championships media director Graeme Simpson said "our thoughts and prayers are with Renee and her family at this time".
additional reporting AAP
