Elena only blamed herself for the accident publicly to protect herself from backlash from the USSR government. She'd broken her leg and doctors, at the government's prodding, removed her cast too early and against her wishes. She told the doctors they were going to put her back into training immediately. She began walking with a limp and an X-ray showed the fracture didn't heal and she went into surgery, only to have her cast removed prematurely and against her wishes yet again. She'd also gained some weight while being immobile so when she was released from the hospital, she was not only subject to the gymnastics training but a rigorous diet that left her even more tired. The move she'd been training for - The Salto - was a men's only move and it required a lot of height, which you can only get by running quickly (and you can only run quick if both your legs are in good shape). She didn't get enough height so she didn't rotate properly and broke her spine when she fell. She never wanted to perform the move. Her coach, who was a men's gymnastics coach, pressured her into it. After she was hurt, it became illegal for women to perform the move in competition due to its high probability of injury. She told her coach she would one day break her neck trying to perform the move and was ignored. Elena was a victim of her situation. She was born into a communist country and her parents died when she was a child and she had no control over her life.
it wasn't banned right after Elena's injury. Elena was not the only woman who got heavily injured because of the Thomas salto, but she is the most famous. There were others after her sadly. In 1992 He Xuemei was the last who performed it in womens gymnastics, this was during the olympics in Barcelona. It got banned in womens gymnastics shortly after that. I believe in mens gymnastics it got banned in 2016. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9osT1xRf2Dg.html
Sigh .....so much info is left out of this video. Elena was seriously injured and already in the hospital because of a leg injury. Shockingly, the Soviet federation came to the hospital and literally forced her back into the gym before she was fully healed because the Olympics were so close and they wanted her to keep training. And *that* is why she made that mistake in the gym that paralyzed her from the neck down - she was not at full recovery strength yet. If she had been allowed to heal properly she very likely would have been an Olympic medalist. Incredibly sad.
The biggest tragedy is her own system refused to initiate the best for her treatment AFTER she was injured even going as far as to blame her for it. But tragically, she was not only ostracized but denied the treatment and support of more advanced medical treatments in the name of politics.
Great video, but the music is a tad too loud, it interferes with hearing the commentators. However, the timing and pacing of the music relative to the images is great. Poor Elena, this sudden twist of fate must have made her very sad.
2:36 clearly you missed this text, she already had a leg injury and was in the hospital but the Soviet federation forced her back to the gym to train cause of the Olympics. It’s why she got hurt. She was also burnt out cause of how pressured she was plus she had no control over her life cause her parents died when she was young.
“These young girls accept the risk of serious injury”…ummm…yeah, cause if they don’t, they’ll get any extra benefits so their parents can live a little better taken away, at best, at worst, all of them sent to the Gulag. Like they have a choice!!! Essentially, her coach committed attempted murder, she tried to tell him she would get hurt and she was too injured, but he made her do the skill anyway. Then go on TV and say it was all her fault! Ugh!!! The abuse of gymnasts, world over, has been horrific. Finally, some of the women gymnasts (and teens) have spoken out about abuse and gotten some justice and changes to gymnastics for some countries. Support these brave and strong women and girls who do a dangerous sport, work hard at it…and abuse and additional endangerment by forcing them to work out/compete on serious injuries, starving and dehydrating them, hitting them, taking all the credit for what the gymnast accomplished, and of course, all of the rampant SA. This should have never happened to Elena or any other girl or woman training in an abusive and unsafe situation. I really hope the changes that I’m hearing about are working, cause gymnastics is about the last thing parents feel comfortable letting their daughters participate in right now.
Elena Mukhina was a victim of russian government, cold war and also of her trainer.. He abused her sexually also.. Poor Elena stopped to enjoy gym. RIP dear sad eyes girl.. 🌹♥️🌿🙏
@@AlienObserver444 Olga Korbut accused her coach Knysh of sexual abuse. Elena never said this about Mikhail Klimenko her coach. He wanted to her to be an Olympic gold medal winner at any cost so he drove her by verbal and psychological abuse.
