A knee injury has forced Gabrielle Fa\u2019amausili to withdraw from competing in the women\u2019s 4x100m freestyle relay team at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n
Fa\u2019amausili will undergo surgery next month at the completion of the US collegiate season on her left knee to repair her meniscus and reconstruct her torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a tough decision to make, I understand how much of an amazing opportunity and honour it is to be selected to represent NZ at such a pinnacle meet, however I don’t feel like I could represent our country to the best of my ability with the stress of injury on my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently a freshman studying at the University of Georgia (UGA) and competing for the college\u2019s swim team, Fa\u2019amausili made the tough decision to withdraw with the future in mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to sit these games out in order to have a successful freshman year here at UGA and allow time for knee surgery and recovery so I can come back in top form to represent New Zealand at future competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swimming New Zealand CEO Steve Johns is confident we\u2019ll see Fa\u2019amausili back competing for New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hugely disappointed for Gabrielle as she goes through this difficult time but respect the decision that she and her team has made. We wish her all the best with surgery and recovery, and I\u2019m really confident that it won\u2019t be too long before we see her representing New Zealand again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Helena Gasson (who is already selected in the 4x100m medley relay)\u00a0will replace Fa\u2019amausili on the women\u2019s 4x100m freestyle relay team.<\/p>\n
The withdrawal brings the number of swimming representatives in the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team to 17.<\/p>\n
Press release courtesy of Swimming New Zealand.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A knee injury has forced Gabrielle Fa\u2019amausili to withdraw from competing in the women\u2019s 4x100m freestyle relay team at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Fa\u2019amausili will undergo surgery next<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":203973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[58424,66501,34411,322,57375,142],"class_list":["post-297520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-2018-commonwealth-games","tag-4-x-100-free-relay","tag-gabrielle-faamausili","tag-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand-swimming","tag-swimming"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n