Injured Polish speedway champ Gollob says sports career over

Gollob, who damaged his spinal cord and suffered other injuries during a training lap ahead of a motocross competition in northern Poland in April, admitted at a news conference on Wednesday that all his sports plans were now a thing of the past.

“I had the next 10 years in sports all mapped out for me, not just in speedway and motocross, but also in terms of Dakar” off-road rally races, he said, adding that all these plans were now “history.”

“It was difficult to become reconciled” at first, said Gollob, a one-time world speedway champion, but added that doctors had helped him “understand and approach things” in a different way.

"Things are not easy, but very, very hard,” he told reporters. “I hope that some time from now I will be in better shape than today.”

He also said that he was “not going to give up” on his “long road” to recovery even though he remained confined to a wheelchair and unable to walk.

He thanked fans for their support after the accident.

The news conference in the north-central city of Bydgoszcz, where Gollob underwent treatment and rehabilitation, was his first public appearance after the accident seven months ago, though he has spoken to the media after his crash.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP, Polish Radio