Chinese gymnast paralyzed

Sang's prognosis uncertain after fall from vault

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Posted: Wednesday July 22, 1998 12:16 AM

Sang injured her neck during warm-ups AP

UNIONDALE, New York (AP) -- Chinese gymnast Sang Lan was paralyzed Tuesday after damaging her spine while practicing for the women's vault in the Goodwill Games.

"At this time, she is paralyzed and cannot move her legs and she has a minimal amount of motion in her arms," said Dr. Brock Schnebel, chief physician of the Goodwill Games.

Sang, 17, injured her neck during warm-ups for the women's individual apparatus events, officials said. She was carried off the floor of Nassau Coliseum on a stretcher and taken to Nassau County Medical Center for a CAT scan.

Sang is one of three Chinese women gymnasts competing in the Goodwill Games. Officials were trying to contact her family in China.

Schnebel said Sang's spine was injured when her chin was forced down and forward onto her chest.

"I have been able to evaluate and speak with Sang Lan through an interpreter and evaluate her X-rays and CAT scans," Schnebel said.

He said she had a "fractured-dislocation" of the sixth and seventh cervical vertabrae.

"This has resulted in an injury to her spinal cord," Schnebel said.

"At this time, she cannot move her legs. She has minimal motion of her arms. She cannot feel from her mid-chest down. This is consistent with a spinal cord injury at the level of C-6, C-7. At present, she is receiving an MRI and treatment plans will be made based on the results."

She was conscious and awake after the accident but had no motion in her legs and was barely able to move her hands, Schnebel said.

"She has communicated through her interpreter but she is quite scared," said Schnebel, an orthopedic surgeon.

Doctors were performing tests and evaluating Sang late Tuesday and planned to make a treatment plan after the examinations were complete, Schnebel said.

He said it was too early to predict if Sang could recover from her injuries and be able to walk again.

"I'm very concerned about her ability to have neurological function in the future but it's too early to say," Schnebel said.

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