Privalova
to miss world championships with knee injury
Reuters
29 May 2001 - Moscow - Olympic 400 metres hurdles champion Irina Privalova, who underwent knee surgery last week, will not compete at this year's world championships in Edmonton, her coach said on Tuesday.
"It is absolutely clear now that Irina will have to miss the whole season, which means she will not compete in Canada," Vladimir Parashchyuk explained.
"She had a surgery last Tuesday in Finland and we came back to Moscow on Friday. She'll be on crutches for about two weeks and then we'll go back to Finland to see the doctors again and check on her progress," he said. "It will be about 10 months, at the earliest, before she can resume serious training."
Parashchyuk, who is also Privalova's husband, said she tore ligaments in her right knee in training two months ago. "It was a very serious injury, but we didn't want to do surgery right away," he said. "We wanted to get various opinions on the injury from different doctors and try to avoid surgery if possible. Only after it was clear she needed it, we decided to go for it."
Privalova, 31, has been plagued by various injuries throughout her career. The Russian missed 18 months with a torn thigh muscle she suffered in the 60 metres final at the indoor world championship in Paris in 1997.
But the following year she came back to win the European 200 metres title in Budapest and then last year surprised a lot of track experts to win the Olympic gold in the 400 metres hurdles in just her eighth race over the distance.
The switch was remarkable as Privalova started as a sprinter and had won 100 and 200 metres world and European titles. In Sydney, Privalova took a full second off her personal best to win the final in 53.02 seconds, beating a field including defending champion Deon Hemmings of Jamaica.
"Of course, I'm very disappointed to see the season go by," Privalova said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. "But it's not the end of the world. I know I can come back because I've done it in the past," she said. "There will be another world championship in 2003 and then the Athens Olympics in 2004 so I have a lot to look forward to."
After winning the Olympic title, Privalova said she was planning to switch to the 800 metres to prolong her career. "As you get older, it gets more and more difficult to prepare yourself for shorter distances as they require a lot more strenuous training, lifting weights and so on," she said. "By switching to the 800 I can prolong my athletic career."
