"Wake me up from this nightmare. Give me back my dream I beg you. All these years have been all for that game, all these sacrifices only for that day ... I wish to say, to shout that I will return stronger than before, but now I can only cry! Goodbye Rio, FAREWELL TO MY RIO! ". The disappointment of Gianmarco Tamberi is all contained in these few words entrusted to his social channels: the Olympic dream of the high jump world indoor and European champion has officially vanished.
After the victory with the Italian record at 2.39, and the left ankle injury the Italian athlete had to be stretchered off last night from the meeting Herculis in Monte Carlo; the 24-year-old from the Fiamme Gialle sporting club was visited this morning, at the Hospital San Matteo in Pavia, by prof. Francesco Benazzo, assisted by two health staff members of the Italian sport federation, prof. Franco Combi and Dr. Antonella Ferrario and the MRI outcomes (operated by Dr. Sammarchi) to which the Italian athlete underwent also erased the last hope to see him at the Brazilian Olympic Games: partial lesion - "subtotal" grade - of the deltoid ligament of the left ankle, despite the absence of bone injuries.
In the next hours, the medical staff will evaluate the therapy to be adopted: the alternative is between the surgery (which could be carried out still in Pavia, by prof. Benazzo, earlier this week), or a natural "protective" process (less impactful, but obviously more risky in the long run).
