Samantha Cerio, star gymnast and terrific student, was performing in the Baton Rouge Regional NCAA event when she came crashing down during her floor routine.
Upon attempting a “handspring double front with a blind landing” she mistimed the landing. Thus leading to the tragedy about to unfold. She hit the mats below and immediately reached for her legs. The cameras caught it all on tape, as she dislocated both of her knees and broke both of her legs.
The SEC co-scholar athlete of the year and “heart and soul” of the team was put on a stretcher by medical staff and hauled out of the arena. The crowd offered a huge standing ovation for the star player, hoping she would one day make a full recovery.
As of now, the Auburn University student has come out on Instagram and made it clear she is hanging up her uniform and retiring from the sport as a whole. She is recovering tremendously, but could still use your loving prayers as she endures an aerospace engineering degree in hopes of moving on and away from her traumatic event.
Samantha is now recovering from her injuries and took to Instagram to announce her retirement from the sport while she concentrates on her aerospace engineering degree: “After 18 years I am hanging up my grips and leaving the chalk behind. I couldn’t be prouder of the person that gymnastics has made me to become. It’s taught me hard work, humility, integrity, and dedication, just to name a few. It’s given me challenges and road blocks that I would have never imagined that has tested who I am as a person. It may not have ended the way I had planned, but nothing ever goes as planned.”