“My pain is not your entertainment.”
Gymnast Samantha Cerio has asked people to stop sharing the footage of her breaking both legs during a routine.
The US college senior was attempting a ‘handspring double front’ at the NCAA regional semi-finals in Louisiana this week when she flipped and landed awkwardly, bending both her legs backwards and breaking them.
Footage of the horrific injury quickly went viral and Cerio has asked people to stop sharing the video, saying that “my pain is not your entertainment.”
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“I am asking you to please stop,” she wrote on her private Twitter account, according to the Washington Post.
“Going through the pain and seeing my knees bent unnaturally in real life was horrible enough, but to continue to see it from videos/pictures because some people feel entitled to repost it is not okay.
“I have family, friends, and teammates who do not need to see me getting injured over and over again. My pain is not your entertainment.”
Following the injury, Cerio announced her retirement from the sport.
On Instagram she wrote that the end of her career had not come as she planned, “but nothing ever goes as planned.”
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“After 18 years I am hanging up my grips and leaving the chalk behind,” she said. “I couldn’t be prouder of the person that gymnastics has made me to become.
“It’s taught me hard work, humility, integrity, and dedication, just to name a few.”
It was confirmed later on in the week that Cerio had suffered two dislocated knees and torn ligaments in both knees as a result of the accident.
She is expected to undergo surgery soon.
