(Reuters) – Three-times Olympic hammer throw champion Anita Wlodarczyk said she would miss the rest of the season, including the World Championships, after undergoing surgery for a torn muscle she suffered foiling a break-in earlier this month.
“My faith and optimism have not left me. Now a lot of work awaits me during my rehabilitation. I will do everything to return to the top again,” Wlodarczyk wrote on Twitter.
Poland’s Wlodarczyk, who became the first woman to win an individual Olympic athletics event three times in a row in Tokyo last year, was injured last week after apprehending a thief who attempted to break into her car.
The 36-year-old, who will miss next month’s World Athletics Championship, also holds the hammer world record with a throw of 82.98 metres set in 2016.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund and Bartosz Dabrowski in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Davis)
