Casimir Schmidt competed at worlds after considering withdrawal over shoulder injury

Dutch gymnast Casimir Schmidt says he considered withdrawing from the World Championships in Rotterdam after injuring his left shoulder during training, but decided to compete after speaking with his team-mates. The Netherlands are now waiting to learn whether their score will be enough to reach the team final.

Schmidt, 30, missed the European Championships in August because of the shoulder injury and had focused on the worlds. He said the setback came on Wednesday, when he landed on the shoulder during a vault in podium training. “The past three days have been like mopping up with the tap running,” he said, describing how difficult it had been to manage the problem.

He said he had doubts about whether he was physically able to compete and had trained only moderately. The decision to go ahead was made the evening before the qualification event. Schmidt said he asked his team-mates whether they had confidence in him, rather than leaving them to decide whether he should compete. Their support, he said, helped him believe he could do it. [1]

After three of six qualification groups, the Dutch team were second in the standings behind Russia, with a score of 242.995. The top eight teams qualify for the final, but three groups were still to compete; the final standings were due on Sunday. [1]

Schmidt said he was pleased with the team’s score despite his own performance, which included a major error on the horizontal bar that he estimated had cost two points. He said the team might have scored even higher, and described qualification for the final as “very tense”. [1]