Kirsten Polderman was slated to represent the Netherlands at the Universiade in July, together with Elze Geurts. As a part of her preparation, she was supposed to compete at the FIT challenge in Belgium. However, she tore her ACL during the training in Ghent and had to withdraw from the competition.
She talked to The Force is Grace about her injury and how frustrating it was to get injured when she felt so ready and in great shape:
“I let go too soon on my Shaposhnikova half and when I landed my knee turned inwards. I heard something pop and after that, I felt a lot of pain.”
Last Friday she got an MRI and learned that she tore her ACL on that fall:
“The physical therapist and doctors had already told me that that would probably be it, so it didn’t come as a total shock to me. But you still hope that the injury is less bad. That made it kind of hard to get the confirmation. I was in good shape, felt strong. I was looking forward to showing beautiful
gymnastics and to run through a nice route of competing at the Flanders International Team Challenge, the National Championships and the Universiade with Elze Geurts. Unfortunately, that’s not possible now. I’m very disappointed, but I will be back.”
She plans on getting surgery soon and will work on getting back to competition after that:
“Now that I know what’s wrong, I can start making a plan for the road back to recovery. I have never thought about quitting: I want to come back. I’m not sure how long that’s going to take. That’s different for everybody.”
Translation from Dutch by Kim.
Photo: Dutch Gymnastics
