Francis, the country’s lone competitor in Artistic Gymnastics, was scheduled to take part in the four-event Women’s All-Round competition on Sunday.
After suffering a knee injury, however, the 27-year has had to alter those plans. The results of an MRI, taken in the Olympic Village on Friday, showed that the damage to the joint was worse than hoped for.
As a result, Francis will only be able to compete on the Uneven Bars, which is the apparatus that is least likely to cause further damage to the injured joint. That means the athlete will skip the Vault, Balance Beam, and Floor exercises.
Francis is the second female gymnast to represent Jamaica at the Olympic Games following in the footsteps of Toni-Ann Williams, who at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was the first female gymnast to compete for Jamaica at the Olympics.
The gymnast was able to qualify for the Games based on her performance at the 2019 World Championships. She finished among the top 20 athletes who were not on a qualifying team. She ranked ninth in the group of competitors.
The artistic gymnastics competition for women is scheduled to begin on Sunday morning in Japan (Saturday night in the Caribbean)
Members of the country’s 62-member team are arriving in Tokyo ahead of the games that officially begin tomorrow morning and right off the bat, it appears as if injury is playing an early role.
Gymnast Danusia Francis has revealed that she had an injured left knee. The severity of the injury is unknown but she is still managing to get her practice sessions in albeit with some amount of caution. The athlete, only the second female gymnast to represent Jamaica at the Olympics, posted pictures on her Instagram account knee on Tuesday and again on Wednesday that showed her heavily bandaged knee.
On Friday morning, she confirmed what the pictures were showing when she posted, “The arena is stunning. Unfortunately, I do have a knee injury so only bars today, but happy with my performance and enjoyed myself out there.” It is unclear whether she suffered the injury prior to or after her arrival in Japan.
She also posted a video of herself leaping and landing with stability, which might be an indication that the injury is not too severe.
Francis is expected to perform well at the Olympics on the strength of outstanding performances in her routines in Spain in June while competing for gymnastics club Xelska.
“My performances were really good. I was extremely happy with my bar routine, I got a really good score there, and then my vault was good,” she said at the time.
“I did make a mistake on (the) beam but as I mentioned, I was only supposed to do three of the events and the beam was a last-minute decision so I was a bit flustered and it was kind of an uncharacteristic mistake so nothing that I can’t fix.”
The British-based gymnast had competed for Xelska a few times before, so needing to get some competition in before she jets off to Tokyo, Francis, Jamaica’s lone gymnast for the Olympics, took advantage of the opportunity and helped her team to victory in the six-team competition.
Teams in the Liga Iberdrola or Spanish League can invite an international athlete to join them but that athlete is not allowed to compete in more than three events. However, Francis managed to compete in all four but did not receive a score for the balance beam routine.
Nevertheless, she was glad she was able to test herself in what were trying conditions.
“I did do all the events but I didn’t get a score for the balance beam but it was really good practice,” she told Sportsmax.TV.
“It’s really a fast-paced competition, faster than any competition I’ve done and it was super-hot and it was a good way to test myself at this stage in the game leading into Tokyo.”
She said she felt like she performed well and now has a good idea of where she is a month ahead of the start of the Games.
“My performances were really good. I was extremely happy with my bar routine, I got a really good score there, and then my vault was good,” she said.
“I did make a mistake on (the) beam but as I mentioned, I was only supposed to do three of the events and the beam was a last-minute decision so I was a bit flustered and it was kind of an uncharacteristic mistake so nothing that I can’t fix.
“But I did do my new skill on the beam pretty well so that was good and my floor routine was pretty good. I already knew that I had to work on some stamina there and with the heat, I felt that but I managed to do a good performance and it was a good confidence booster that made me feel like I am on track for where I want to be in the next few weeks.”
Francis is the second female gymnast to represent Jamaica at the Olympic Games following in the footsteps of Toni-Ann Williams, who at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was the first female gymnast to compete for Jamaica at the Olympic Games.
The 27-year-old was diagnosed with a torn ACL on Friday and will now only take part in the Athletics Gymnastics Uneven Bars event at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Even so, the gymnast will not be able to fully compete as she will be unable to do a dismount routine.
“I hope to do some sort of bar routine just to get a score on the board but without a dismount, it won’t be a competitive score, but I’ll be happy to see Jamaica represented at the Olympic Games and I still feel very proud to be wearing the Jamaican flag,” Francis told the press.
“The knee, I think, is getting worse and worse, so I can’t really tell you the exact time when the ligament damage occurred, but I found out today what it actually was and it will drastically affect my competition, unfortunately.”
The Artistic Gymnastics competition is set to start tomorrow with the Uneven Bars finals for women taking place on Sunday. The athlete will miss out on competing on the Balance Beam, Floor Exercise, and Vault.
The gymnast admits the injury had come as a huge blow.
“I’m really upset to have hurt myself. I have been so prepared for this competition mentally and physically up to this point so to, at the last hurdle, be injured is disappointing. Luckily, the medics have taken really good care of me and I’m sure they will continue to do so.”
The 27-year-old Francis, who is the only Jamaican gymnast to qualify for the 2021 Olympics to date, is a beneficiary of the Athletes Assistance and Welfare Fund orchestrated by the Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports, the Honourable Olivia Grange.
“I have received funding from the Institute of Sports and I am so, so grateful for this,” said Francis, who is based in London.
“With gymnastics being a fairly new sport in Jamaica I never expected to receive much support financially and so, I do work alongside my training,” she revealed.
Francis continued: “But receiving this funding from the Institute of Sports allowed me to work less hours and focus more on my training and I think this will be a great factor in delivering the result I want when we get to Tokyo”.
Francis is just one of a number of athletes across various sporting disciplines that have received funding designed to provide financial assistance to national sportsmen and women preparing for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Government through the Institute of Sports is providing support to approximately 124 athletes to the tune of $45m. The program was implemented for the first time in March 2020.
Francis, who is expected to be joined by Jamaica’s first gymnast to the Olympic Games in 2016 -- Toni-Ann Williams – said training has been going well.
“My preparations for the Olympics are going well, I feel like it is right on track. Just building fitness and trying to put those finishing touches on my routines,” Francis pointed out.
“I am competing in a few weeks and I am really excited to get back out there on the competition floor in that mindset, dust off the cobwebs and I think this will give me a nice confidence boost before going to Tokyo,” she added.
“This is my second Olympic Games. In 2012, I was a reserve so I didn’t actually get to compete. So this time, out there on the competition floor Jamaican fans can expect to see the same charisma that Jamaican athletes are known for. I will be out there with a great big smile, I will be wearing the Jamaican flag and I will do my best to make everybody proud,” said Francis.
