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Auburn gymnast Samantha Cerio has joined the ranks of the NFL’s Joe Theismann and Alex Smith ― and that’s not a good thing.
The athlete was competing Friday at an NCAA regional semifinal in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when a blind landing in her floor routine went horribly wrong, ending her career as a gymnast.
WE’RE WARNING YOU: The video below is graphic and is really difficult to watch. Her floor routine begins at 39:17.
Cerio’s limbs bent in directions they should not, dislocating her knees and breaking both legs, the Times-Picayune reported, citing sources with “preliminary knowledge” of her injuries. Auburn didn’t immediately answer a request for an update on her condition.
The accident brings to mind the grotesque injuries sustained by Theismann and Smith decades apart on television.
Cerio, a senior majoring in aerospace engineering who has a post-graduation job lined up with Boeing, managed to maintain an amazingly upbeat attitude afterward.
On Instagram, she credited her sport with teaching her hard work and dedication. “It may not have ended the way I had planned, but nothing ever goes as planned,” she wrote.
Sunday on Twitter, she thanked well-wishers and said she was “doing well.”