Russian freestyle skier Maria Komissarova, who was injured while preparing to compete at the Sochi Olympics, says she is paralyzed from the waist down.
Komissarova was training for the ski-cross event on February 15 when she sustained a broken spine.
"I do not have feeling below the navel," the 23-year old said in a post in Russian on her Instagram account.
"But I’m strong and I know that someday I will stand again."
Requests for comment from the International Ski Federation and the IOC were still outstanding at press time.
Komissarova was visited in the hospital in Sochi by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin before she was moved to a clinic in Munich which reportedly has a history of treating Russian athletes.
In 2012, Komissarova won a World Cup medal in ski cross in Grindelwald, Switzerland, the first Russian woman to do so.
Written by Nick Devlin
Homepage photo: Getty Images
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