Injured speedskater Timmer can't defend Olympic title in Vancouver

Three time Olympic speedskating champion Marianne Timmer's career is over after tests showed she sustained breaks in her heel bone in a fall Friday.

Her coach Jac Orie said Sunday an MRI showed the breaks, which require 12 weeks to recover. "This season is over," Orie said. "She's terribly upset."

Asked if Timmer had a chance of defending her Olympic 1,000 metre title at the Vancouver Olympics in February, Orie said: "It's not realistic. She can't put any weight on the foot for weeks."

Timmer fell in Friday's World Cup 500-metre race at Thialf Stadium in Heerenveen, the Netherlands, when she rounded the final bend as Jing Yu of China fell in front of her. She clipped the Chinese skater and slammed into inflatable barriers before screaming in pain. Both skaters lay on the ice surrounded by coaches and medical officials for several minutes before being carried off the track on stretchers.

Initial tests after the fall had suggested Timmer only had a light rupture of a tendon in her left ankle leading Orie to say she needed four weeks to recover, but the new MRI showed the injury was much more severe.

Timmer (35) is one of the brightest stars in the powerful Dutch speedskating team. She won her first Olympic 1,000-metre title at the 1998 Nagano Games, where she also took gold in the 1,500. Eight years later, in Turin, she won the 1,000 again after she was disqualified in the 500 for a false start.

Orie said Timmer was in great form before her crash as she geared up for Vancouver, which was to be her fourth and final Olympics. "I don't want to make this more tragic than it already is, but she worked so hard this summer," he said. "She set aside everything and it resulted in very good performances so for her season to end so abruptly is terrible."

Orie said the injury had hit his skaters hard. "It has an impact on the team because Marianne has had a special place in our team for years and everybody has great respect for her," he said.