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Dani King breaks five ribs, suffers collapsed lung, in training crash

Olympic champion says she's being well looked after by staff at hospital in Wales...

Olympic champion Dani King sustained five broken ribs and a collapsed lung on a training ride yesteday.

The 23-year-old from Hampshire, who rode alongside Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell to win team pursuit gold at London in 2012, broke the news in a post to Twitter today.

She wrote: “Crashed while out training yesterday resulting in 5 broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Being looked after by the amazing NHS ICU in Wales.”

King is hopeful to help Team GB defend its team pursuit title at Rio in two years’ time, but unlike Trott and Rowsell has chosen to stay at Wiggle Honda to further her road career.

Confirming last month that she would remain with the team, she also said she had elected not to ride on the track this winter.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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19 comments

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Edgeley | 9 years ago
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Ouch. Broken ribs are horrible. Laughing, sneezing, and even going to the loo are excrutiating. Can't imagine a collapsed lung is a bundle of laughs, either.

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walleyes | 9 years ago
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Dani was out with some friends of mine. I'm told it was a 30mph crash and several ambulances attended. There were a few nasty injuries but Dani came off worst.
I wish them all a speedy recovery. I know how Dani feels
I had a crash in the Marmotte this year on an flat straight normal road when a guy in front not looking where he was going hit a kerb and brought himself, me and another guy off.
The result, three broken vertebrae, 3 broken ribs and a punctured lung. 5 days in a french hospital. There is a bright side to every story though - I got to experience the French healthcare system and very good it is too especially the food!
Best wishes to all involved.

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leqin | 9 years ago
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Ouch - get well soon Dani and hope all goes well.

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Forester | 9 years ago
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If it's any consolation, I had a collapsed lung and multiple rib fractures as well as other fractures and have got back to cycling - just do as your physio tells you, Dani!

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BikeJon | 9 years ago
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Poor Dani! Wishing her a very speedy recovery. I can send on a list of my jokes if she needs to remain stony-faced.

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edster99 | 9 years ago
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Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

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stevefry789 | 9 years ago
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Thanks for the comments guys. I'm Dani's agent and initially WalesOnline did report the crash was on the A470 which it wasn't. It was on the road on the other side of the valley, between Merthyr Tydfil & Quakers Yard.

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Accessibility f... | 9 years ago
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Broken ribs are the worst. I had two last year (not a cycling crash). While breaking them was very painful, I could still get around and do things for most of the day. What was seriously, awfully and excruciatingly painful was trying to go to bed and then getting up in the morning. It's horrible, it took me a good 10 minutes to work the courage up to lever my torso out of the mattress.

And don't even think about sneezing. Not unless you want to wish you were dead.

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massspike replied to Accessibility for all | 9 years ago
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Peowpeowpeowlasers wrote:

Broken ribs are the worst. I had two last year (not a cycling crash). While breaking them was very painful, I could still get around and do things for most of the day. What was seriously, awfully and excruciatingly painful was trying to go to bed and then getting up in the morning. It's horrible, it took me a good 10 minutes to work the courage up to lever my torso out of the mattress.

Yes that was #2 on my list of things not to do with broken ribs. You don't realize how much of your core you use rolling out of bed. With sneezing you could always "hug" a pillow to try to reduce the pain but there seemed to be nothing you could do to reduce the pain of getting out of bed.

The bright side for Dani -- in 2 weeks she should be able to get on the trainer. Unless you do what I did -- pinch a nerve in your lower back bending over with the stiffness you get from sleeping on your back for a few weeks. I guessed this is what happened to Andrew Talansky when he quit the tour with lower back pain after a big crash a few days earlier.

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massspike | 9 years ago
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I suffered the same damage in a fall earlier this year...we should compare crash notes...I am sure I was going much faster though  3

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bendertherobot | 9 years ago
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You can crash anywhere but was she really on the A470?

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notfastenough replied to bendertherobot | 9 years ago
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bendertherobot wrote:

You can crash anywhere but was she really on the A470?

From Wales Online:
“The accident happened on a B-road between Merthyr Tydfil and Quaker’s Yard and what happened was one of the cyclists with who she was riding went over a pothole that was covered with water due to the wet weather we’ve been having."

“It led to Dani crashing off her bike with the resultant injuries she has talked about on her twitter account. The injuries are clearly painful and serious and we can only hope she gets better soon."

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/olympic-cyclist-dani-king-i...

The quote was from her agent, so hopefully it should be an accurate account.

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bendertherobot replied to notfastenough | 9 years ago
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notfastenough wrote:
bendertherobot wrote:

You can crash anywhere but was she really on the A470?

From Wales Online:
“The accident happened on a B-road between Merthyr Tydfil and Quaker’s Yard and what happened was one of the cyclists with who she was riding went over a pothole that was covered with water due to the wet weather we’ve been having."

“It led to Dani crashing off her bike with the resultant injuries she has talked about on her twitter account. The injuries are clearly painful and serious and we can only hope she gets better soon."

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/olympic-cyclist-dani-king-i...

The quote was from her agent, so hopefully it should be an accurate account.

Ah, that's "better." I mean, I'd not venture onto the A470 itself between those points. It's more or less a motorway.

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NickK123 | 9 years ago
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Thoughts are with Dani at this very difficult time. Without question, in my view, the Team Pursuit Squad has been the UK benchmark in world female track cycling over the last couple of years and Rio beckons - get well soon Dani!

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zanf | 9 years ago
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I've had a collapsed lung (not from a crash but spontaneous) and I've not experienced pain like that. Saying that, I've not broken any bones though.

It will hurt when she laughs!

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massspike replied to zanf | 9 years ago
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zanf wrote:

It will hurt when she laughs!

Sneezing is worse

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Dug Hickin | 9 years ago
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Get well soon Dani, that's gotta hurt!  13

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notfastenough | 9 years ago
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Damn that'll hurt. I wonder how it hapened? Get well soon Dani!

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Pointbroken | 9 years ago
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Ouch! Get well soon.

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