Gold medalist Germany’s Kristina Vogel celebrates on the podium after taking part in the women’s sprint final during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn on March 2, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / EMMANUEL DUNAND
BERLIN — German track cyclist Kristina Vogel is paralyzed because of the back injuries she sustained after crashing in training in June.
The two-time Olympic champion tells Der Spiegel magazine “no matter how you dress it up, I can’t walk anymore.”
Vogel, an 11-time world champion, suffered a severe spinal injury after crashing onto a concrete track following a high-speed collision with another cyclist on June 26, when she was training for the German Grand Prix in the eastern city of Cottbus.
Vogel also had a serious accident in May 2009, when she was knocked off her bike by a vehicle. She suffered severe injuries and was placed in an artificial coma for two days.
But she returned three years later to win the team sprint for Germany with Miriam Welte at the 2012 London Olympics. Vogel became the first German to win Olympic gold in the sprint in Rio de Janeiro four years later despite a broken saddle.