Aussie model says she would’ve been an Olympian if not for freak injury

Aussie model Simone Holtznagel says she could’ve been an Olympian if it weren’t for one very painful injury that’s left fans in shock.

Australian model Simone Holtznagel has shared a photograph of a freak injury she suffered as a teenager, joking that it robbed her of Olympic glory.

In a video shared to her Instagram on Friday, the 28-year-old said somewhat tongue-in-cheek that she could have been on the Australian basketball team, if not for an accident in high school.

“Thinking how I should’ve been on the Olympic basketball team but this happened …” Simone wrote in the clip.

It then cuts to a photo of her as a student in 2009, lying on a hospital bed with a broken arm that is twisted in an extremely painful-looking angle.

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Aussie model in Simone Holtznagel shared a post about how she ‘should have been on the Olympics basketball team’, but a freak accident shattered her dreams. Picture: Instagram/simoneholtznagel

She then shared this snap as a school student with a painfully twisted broken arm. Picture: Instagram/simoneholtznagel

“Also shout out to my school friends who will literally never let me live this down,” she added with the hashtag, ‘#Olympics’.

The former Australia’s Next Top Model contestant, who could then be seen laughing in the video, tells followers she dislocated and fractured her arm at the time.

While it appears the 28-year-old was just having a bit of fun regarding her shattered Olympic dream, it didn’t stop fans from commenting on the horrific angle of her broken arm.

“F****. Ow!” one person wrote.

“Ouch! That’s nasty!” said another, while a third wrote, “I screamed”.

The 28-year-old from Wollongong couldn’t help but laugh at herself. Picture: Instagram/simoneholtznagel

Bachelor in Paradise star Jessica Brody even chimed in with a hilarious comment that read: “Conor McGregor called and he wants his leg back.”

“We can still hear the screams,” joked another one of the model’s friends

“I remember you were the only one that could truly sympathise with me when I did that to mine,” said another, while a fourth added: “MAAAAAAATE this is my favourite Olympic post yet.”

Simone’s modelling career kicked off when she was just 17 years old after she placed second runner-up on Australia’s Next Top Model in 2011.

Simone shot to fame in 2011 when she placed second runner-up on Australia’s Next Top Model. Picture: Instagram/simoneholtznagel

She also developed a close relationship with the late Charlotte Dawson, who was one of the judges on the show and took her own life in 2014.

She then moved to Los Angeles, modelling for major brands including Guess, before returning back home to Australia where she appeared on I’m a celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! in 2018.

“I remember first seeing my Guess billboard in LA,” Simone told news.com.au in 2018.

“I got out of the car and this guy was looking at me weirdly. He looked at the billboard, looked back at me and he said ‘Is that you?’. And I was like ‘Yeah mate’ and he said ‘Congratulations that’s awesome’,” she recalled.

She also lived in L.A. where she was an ambassador for Guess. Picture: Instagram/simoneholtznagel

“At first I was kind of embarrassed. It was on Sunset Boulevard at this big intersection I was like ‘Oh my god this is so embarrassing’, but then I was like ‘Actually, f*** it, that’s me on a billboard. I’m going to take some pictures. I don’t care if people think I’m weird’.”

The Wollongong local also made an appearance on First Dates in 2020.

Originally published as Aussie model says she would’ve been an Olympian if not for freak injury