Ellie Black withdraws from gymnastics all-around final due to training injury

© File/Getty Images Canada’s Ellie Black reacts after competing on the balance beam during the women’s individual all-around final at the 2016 Rio Olympics at Rio Olympic Arena on Aug. 11, 2016. Black placed fifth in the all-around event, the best-ever result by a Canadian.

Canadian gymnast Ellie Black has withdrawn from the women’s all-around final scheduled for Thursday because of an injury she suffered during training, Gymnastics Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee announced Wednesday.

“We have the unfortunate news of sharing that Ellie sprained her ankle during Tuesday’s training session and has made the difficult decision to withdraw from the all-around event,” COC Chief Sport Officer Eric Myles said in a statement.

“We are hoping that she is still able to compete in the beam final on August 3.”

Black is scheduled to speak to the media from Japan at 9 a.m. ET.

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The 25-year-old from Halifax, one of Canada’s most decorated gymnasts, is competing in her third Olympics. She placed fifth in the women’s individual all-around final at the Rio Games in 2016, the best-ever result for a Canadian in the event. In 2017, she won a silver medal in the all-around final at the world championships in Montreal, becoming Canada’s first medallist in that event at the worlds.

The year-long delay of Tokyo 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic proved advantageous for Black, who tore ankle ligaments while landing a vault during the 2019 world championships in Stuttgart. She had ankle surgery a month later and returned to competition in early 2020.

It wasn’t long before the pandemic took hold and the International Olympic Committee and organizers in Japan agreed to postpone the Games for a year. That gave Black’s ankle more time to heal.

“This gives me an opportunity to allow my ankle to have a little bit longer to heal and hopefully be stronger, and hopefully my performance can be stronger for my team a year from now,” Black said in the spring of 2020.

“We are giving the ankle a little bit of time to rest and recover and avoid the things that irritate the ankle. Avoid some of the hard pounding.”