A young gymnast has announced her retirement from the sport after breaking both of her legs during a competition.
Samantha Cerio of Auburn University was performing her floor routine at Friday's NCAA regional event in Baton Rouge when she fell on a blind landing.
Cerio, a senior on the team, was attempting a handspring double front but let out a scream of pain as she landed at an awkward angle, causing her legs to buckle amidst gasps from the crowd.
The crowd was initially stunned into silence but gave the gymnast a standing ovation when paramedics carted her out of the arena on a stretcher a few moments later.
Cerio reportedly dislocated both of her knees and broke both of her legs as a result of the fall.
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"It was pretty tough to watch,'" Auburn coach Jeff Graba told NOLA.com . "She's a trooper. The last thing she said was, 'Go help the girls.'"
Cerio's teammates ended Friday with their second-highest overall score of the season but just missed out on a place in the nationals after finishing fourth in Saturday's regional final.
Following the incident, the gymnast took to social media to announce that the competition would be her last.
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"Friday night was my final night as a gymnast," Cerio said in an Instagram post on Sunday. "After 18 years I am hanging up my grips and leaving the chalk behind.
"I couldn’t be prouder of the person that gymnastics has made me to become.
"It’s taught me hard work, humility, integrity, and dedication, just to name a few.
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"It’s given me challenges and road blocks that I would have never imagined that has tested who I am as a person.
"It may not have ended the way I had planned, but nothing ever goes as planned."
Cerio will graduate from Auburn with a degree in aerospace engineering in May and is set to start working with Boeing later this year.
