Danny
20-11-2005, 10:06 PM
Layne Beachley could be out till 2007 after herniating a disc in her neck for a second time. She first injured her neck in big swell at Teahupoo.
Injury wipes out Beachley, Occy fights for tour spot
By Will Swanton
November 20, 2005
SMH
Layne Beachley has suffered a neck injury so severe that she may be forced off the World Championship Tour until 2007.
The six-times world champion - a contender to match Kelly Slater's seven crowns before a herniated disc forced her out of the looming season finale in Hawaii - will learn early next month if she needs surgery. If she does go under the knife, the 33-year-old will be out of the tour for the whole of next year.
Beachley is in Hawaii for board meetings with the Association of Surfing Professionals but will return home as soon as possible.
Her agent, Brooke Farris, denied surgery would signal the end of a magnificent career that netted six consecutive world titles between 1998 and 2003. Not even Slater won his first six in a row.
"Layne will be back at some stage," Farris said. "She wouldn't want to go out on this note. That's not the way she does things. She'll definitely be back as soon as she can.
"It's frustrating for her because she's an active person. When she's fit again, she'll put her head down and start working hard all over again."
Beachley's problem is a recurrence of an injury she suffered in the treacherous swells at Teahupoo in Tahiti.
A heaving wave landed flush on the back of her neck, leaving her with "a hole between the discs in my neck, and three herniated discs". Her latest woes, however, will be just another chapter in the autobiography, due to be released next year.
She is putting together a compelling read. Years ago, she felt a depression so dark she became suicidal, and a bout of chronic fatigue syndrome left her in tears on the lounge for the better part of a year.
The neck injury will be a frustration but she will throw her energies into business ventures and her Aim For The Stars Foundation.
Meanwhile, Australian Mark Occhilupo is at risk of being booted off the WCT before he wants to leave.
Occhilupo announced his retirement in February, but then changed his mind and declared he fancied going on forever.
But with just one event to go on the WCT, in Hawaii, he is in danger of losing his place on the elite tour and having no option other than to retire.
The top 28 surfers on the WCT after the Pipeline Masters next month automatically qualify for next year.
Occhilupo is walking the tightrope in 25th place. An early exit at Pipeline, to be run from December 8 to 20, could lead to an undeservedly inglorious exit for the last men's world champion of the 20th century and Australia's most recent men's world champion.
In Occhilupo's favour is the fact that he revels at a place where others sometimes recoil in fear. He won the Pipeline Masters, the most prestigious event in board riding, in 1985 and is never far from the deep end of the draw.
He's immeasurably popular with the other WCT surfers, none of whom would want him to bow out against his will.
Source: The Sun-Herald
Injury wipes out Beachley, Occy fights for tour spot
By Will Swanton
November 20, 2005
SMH
Layne Beachley has suffered a neck injury so severe that she may be forced off the World Championship Tour until 2007.
The six-times world champion - a contender to match Kelly Slater's seven crowns before a herniated disc forced her out of the looming season finale in Hawaii - will learn early next month if she needs surgery. If she does go under the knife, the 33-year-old will be out of the tour for the whole of next year.
Beachley is in Hawaii for board meetings with the Association of Surfing Professionals but will return home as soon as possible.
Her agent, Brooke Farris, denied surgery would signal the end of a magnificent career that netted six consecutive world titles between 1998 and 2003. Not even Slater won his first six in a row.
"Layne will be back at some stage," Farris said. "She wouldn't want to go out on this note. That's not the way she does things. She'll definitely be back as soon as she can.
"It's frustrating for her because she's an active person. When she's fit again, she'll put her head down and start working hard all over again."
Beachley's problem is a recurrence of an injury she suffered in the treacherous swells at Teahupoo in Tahiti.
A heaving wave landed flush on the back of her neck, leaving her with "a hole between the discs in my neck, and three herniated discs". Her latest woes, however, will be just another chapter in the autobiography, due to be released next year.
She is putting together a compelling read. Years ago, she felt a depression so dark she became suicidal, and a bout of chronic fatigue syndrome left her in tears on the lounge for the better part of a year.
The neck injury will be a frustration but she will throw her energies into business ventures and her Aim For The Stars Foundation.
Meanwhile, Australian Mark Occhilupo is at risk of being booted off the WCT before he wants to leave.
Occhilupo announced his retirement in February, but then changed his mind and declared he fancied going on forever.
But with just one event to go on the WCT, in Hawaii, he is in danger of losing his place on the elite tour and having no option other than to retire.
The top 28 surfers on the WCT after the Pipeline Masters next month automatically qualify for next year.
Occhilupo is walking the tightrope in 25th place. An early exit at Pipeline, to be run from December 8 to 20, could lead to an undeservedly inglorious exit for the last men's world champion of the 20th century and Australia's most recent men's world champion.
In Occhilupo's favour is the fact that he revels at a place where others sometimes recoil in fear. He won the Pipeline Masters, the most prestigious event in board riding, in 1985 and is never far from the deep end of the draw.
He's immeasurably popular with the other WCT surfers, none of whom would want him to bow out against his will.
Source: The Sun-Herald