Gymnast Shawn put to sleep after breaking leg

In this video, the parents of gymnast Shawn are interviewed in the morning studio of Today Now.
Gymnast Shawn (17) broke her knee the evening before in practice on the uneven bars, and her parents Doug and Teri decided to have her euthanised.

Some quotes from the video:

• it’s tough whenever you have to put a gymnast to sleep
• it really feels like we’re losing a friend
• a lot of people probably don’t understand why it’s neceassary to euthanise a gymnast when this happens
• it’s very expensive to keep a lame gymnast
• her hindquarters were so strong
• Shawn was only 17 years old so we never got to breed her

Image preview: girl with blond ponytail, with blue-red-white gymnast suit, looking into distance, holding her right hand over her heart. Text next to her reads: Shawn Johnson “Heart of Gold”, 1992-2009.

Title and caption at You tube:

The Onion. Gymnast Shawn Johnson Put To Sleep After Breaking Leg
After gym doctors confirmed the injuries were career-ending, Johnson’s trainers said there was no reason to keep her alive.
Video has English subtitles

This satirical video from The Onion illustrates the speciesism and ableism in horse ‘sport’.
Speciesism: the indignation when the practices of race horsing would be applied to human atletes. Ableism: ‘putting down’ injured atletes, because they would never reach their level again, become too expensive to keep.

In North America, three thoroughbred racehorses die every day from training and racing combined.  (Racehorse injuries) Millions of racehorses are sent to the slaughterhouse when they are deemed no longer competitive.

Note: The Onion is a satire site.