Nils Schumann, Olympic champion, breaks arm in mountain
bike crash
AP
10 February 2002 - Grossengottern, Germany - Germany's Nils Schumann, the Olympic 800
metres champion, broke his arm in a mountain bike accident several days ago and probably
will miss the remainder of the indoor season.
Schumann crashed while riding in the forest near Erfurt, Germany, but the news was only
released on Sunday, several days after he was operated on for the injury.
"The German indoor championships has been ruled out and I think the European championships
are very questionable," said Schumann coach Dieter Hermann.
The European indoors will be held March 1-3 in Vienna, Austria.
Schumann, a surprise gold medalist at Sydney, has struggled to live up to expectations
ever since while
coping with injuries and poor performances.
He was just sixth at the Erfurt meet in a 1000 metre event in his indoor debut and
followed last week with a fourth place in Stuttgart, Germany.
At Erfurt, Schumann generated some headlines by shoving runner Frank Haschke to the ground
after the race. He claimed afterwards his fellow German had intentionally blocked his
progress and boxed him in with some overly hard tactics.
