U.S. Gymnast Anna Li Staying In London Despite Neck Injury

Anna Li’s neck injury will prevent her from performing at the Olympic games, she will still get to watch, as she and mom Jiani Wu — who is also her coach — have decided to spend a few days enjoying the Olympic experience before heading to Chicago for treatment.

The U.S. Gymnastic team announced Thursday that Anna would no longer serve as an alternate on the team after a bad fall during training. Li injured her neck while practicing on the uneven bars on Tuesday in Birmingham, England, reports The Chicago Tribune.

In a statement, the injured Anna Li said:

“I’m excited to get to come to London and be at the Olympic Games and support my team. I want to enjoy the experience even though I am injured.”

According to The Los Angeles Times, Li stated on Friday that:

“Things could have been a lot worse. I’m lucky because I wanted to finish out this entire journey and I wanted to still be part of the team.”

Anna Li, who is from Aurora, Illinois, and competed while she was at UCLA, stated she had never been in an accident like the one that happened on Tuesday. The 23-year-old gymnast stated:

“It was a complete accident. I was doing a dismount at the end of training. I finished my routine and was just taking an extra turn and peeled off. It happened so fast and I was in a lot of pain. But even when I was in so much pain I was kicking my legs and thinking, ‘OK, still moving.’ So that was a relief.”

Li is not the only member of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team to suffer an injury already, as the U.S. team already announced that 16-year-old McKayla Maroney had re-injured a toe she broke more than two months ago. Maroney, who is the defending world vault champion, will likely only complete in the vault when the U.S. women begin competing on Sunday.

Anna Li’s neck injury leaves two women on the alternate list for the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team, Elizabeth Price of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Sarah Finnegan of St. Louis.

Check out Anna Li on the uneven bars at the 2012 Olympic Trials here:

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