10 Aug 2010

Paralysed Chinese gymnast to sue

5:47 pm on 10 August 2010

The former Chinese gymnast Sang Lan, who was left paralysed after a fall at the 1998 Goodwill Games, is looking for an American lawyer to help her sue the organisers of the event.

Sang, then 17, broke her neck and was confined to a wheelchair for life after landing on her head during vault practice at the event in New York.

On her blog she says poor management and bad organisation were the reasons for the accident and that she has held back from saying the truth of the past 12 years.

A coach from another country had been removing a mattress from the landing area when she began her jump, she says.

Sang said the Games organisers provided her with insurance to cover lifetime medical treatment, but no other compensation for her living expenses.

She also says neither the Chinese Gymnastic Association nor the Games organisers had paid any attention to her living conditions back in China.

The Goodwill Games were created by American media mogul Ted Turner in 1986 and ended in 2001 after five editions.