Three-time Olympic hammer champion Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland has to end her season over injuries sustained when stopping a thief from stealing her car.
The 36-year-old Wlodarzcyk said on Instagram late Tuesday that she damaged a thigh muscle in the recent incident.
It is an injury which does not allow her to compete any more in the season’s campaign featuring the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon and the European Championships in Munich.
She underwent surgery on the left-leg injury on Monday.
“A lot of work awaits me in rehabilitation … I will do everything to be back next year,” said Wlodarczyk.
The veteran is wasting no thoughts on retirement and already eyeing the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
She had returned from injury to become the first woman to win three Olympic athletics gold medals in a row in one discipline last year in Tokyo.
“I have great motivation to repeat it and in two years to stand on the podium in Paris again,” Wlodarzcyk said.
Wlodarczyk has ruled the women’s hammer throw over the past years, aside the three Olympic gold medals.
She has four world and European titles each and bettered the world record six times to the current mark of 82.98 metres.
dpa/NAN.
