This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Germany’s double Olympic and world track sprint cycling champion Kristina Vogel has announced she has been left paralysed following spinal injuries sustained in a serious crash during training.

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Vogel, 27, who won Olympic gold in the track team sprint at London 2012 and individual sprint gold at Rio de Janeiro four years later, collided with another cyclist at 38mph while training at the Cottbus Sport Centre Velodrome in June.

The 11-time world champion has lost the use of her legs after the accident severed her spinal cord.

“It is shit, there’s no other way to put it. No matter how you package it, I can’t walk anymore,” Vogel told Der Spiegel. “But I believe that the sooner you accept a new situation, the sooner you learn to deal with it.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Germany’s Kristina Vogel celebrates on the podium at the world championships in Apeldoorn. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Vogel had been training for the German Grand Prix on a concrete track when the crash occurred. She was airlifted to a clinic in Berlin where she was placed in a medically-induced coma before undergoing several operations.

Before Friday’s interview in Der Spiegel there had been no updates on her condition since undergoing surgery in June.

“I didn’t want people to see me that injured,” Vogel, who plans to hold a press conference on Wednesday, added. “Now I can say I have reached a point where I can say: here I am and I am fine. I am still the same crazy person. I want to be a source of motivation for others.”

The Kyrgyzstan-born cyclist also had a serious accident in May 2009, when she was knocked off her bike by a vehicle. She suffered severe injuries and was placed in an artificial coma for two days.

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But she returned three years later to win the team sprint with Miriam Welte at the 2012 London Olympics. Vogel became the first German woman to win Olympic gold in the individual sprint in Rio de Janeiro four years later despite a broken saddle.

• This article was amended on 10 September 2018. Kristina Vogel was the first German woman to win Olympic gold in the individual sprint, not the first German as an earlier version said.





