Olympic Medal Hopes Dashed For Sandi Morris After Hip Injury

Downers Grove IL

04 August, 2021

4:57 PM

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TOKYO — Pole vaulter Sandi Morris, a native of Downers Grove, was knocked out of medal contention when her police broke, and she injured her hip during a rainy event at the Tokyo Olympic Games Monday. A video from NBC Sports shows Morris falling and wincing in pain on her first attempt to make the jump Monday. Morris made two more attempts at the vault and was left sobbing in pain on the safety mats. "That's heartbreaking for Sandi Morris," one NBC Sports commentator said. Morris took to Twitter to share a screenshot that offered more details in the wake of the injury. Morris wrote that she "knew for certain something was very wrong" when she began running to make her second attempt at the jump. "My hip flexor was shooting pain down my leg and clicking, and my quad was cramping as a reaction," Morris shared. While acknowledging she was "devastated," Morris added that she was "thankful for the outpouring of love from friends, fans and family." In a subsequent Tweet, Morris called the pole break a "blessing in disguise," as she feels she likely would have made the jump and qualified with a hurt hip and been forced to pull out of the Olympic finals. She later posted that she reviewed footage of the jump and believes her injury was unrelated to the broken pole. On Tuesday, Morris shared that an MRI revealed she strained "a few different muscles" on her hip, but had not sustained any tears. Her recovery is expected to take about six weeks, she said. Thank you so much to everyone who has reached out to check in on me over the last 36 hours. My MRI came back with promising news - grade 2 strain to a few different muscles in my hip region. NO tears!! I am so relieved. I'm looking at about 6 week recovery & no surgery! — Sandi Morris, OLY(@sandicheekspv) August 4, 2021 Morris, who won the silver medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, had been a medal hopeful heading into Monday's event. Morris's pole also broke ahead of the 2016 games in Rio, causing her to sustain a cut and a broken wrist.