Australian
swimmer Kenrick Monk's Olympic preparations were in turmoil today with a
broken elbow sustained in what he said was a deliberate hit-and-run
incident which threw him from his bicycle.
The Commonwealth Games relay gold medallist, who also competed at the Beijing Olympics and the recent world championships in Shanghai, was left unconscious after being hit by a car in Brisbane yesterday afternoon. |
| . |
Monk
was on his way to training and was within minutes of the venue when he
was hit. Fellow swimmers Ned McKendry, Nick D'Arcy and Stephanie Rice
went to his aid before he was rushed to hospital.
'I still feel a bit sore, but also very lucky,' said Monk, who specialises in the 200m freestyle and is training for the London Olympics. 'I have broken my elbow in two places which is obviously really disappointing at this stage of the preparation for the Olympic trials in March next year.' He claimed he was deliberately targeted, and had given a statement to police. 'I believe it was done on purpose. I can't remember too much after I was hit, but I know I wasn't doing anything wrong,' he said. His coach Michael Bohl said Monk was adamant it was no accident. 'When I spoke to him, he said there was no doubt that the person who did this did it intentionally and he swerved to get him,' Bohl told Brisbane's Courier-Mail newspaper. 'Kenrick went over the top of his handle bars and came down with a big thud. It's really thrown his (Olympic) preparation into a little bit of turmoil.' The 23-year-old is expected to be out of the water for up to two months. |