Back to the Olympics Newsfeed

Australian Olympic gymnast seriously injured in Cirque du Soleil fall

Australian Olympic gymnast Lisa Skinner is hospitalized and “doing well,” her mom said, after fracturing a vertebra falling a reported 16 feet during a Cirque du Soleil performance in Brisbane on Sunday.

Skinner, an Olympian in 1996, 2000 and 2004, was being fitted with a head and neck brace Monday, her mom told Australian radio.

“Her arms and legs work, which is the main thing, and she survived,” Anne Skinner said. “She should recover. It’s just going to be a long, hard road at this point.”

Skinner’s head must be stabilized for one month during a six-to-12-week recovery, her mom said.