Rockhampton gymnast Blake Rutherford achieves Olympic dream but horror head injury rules him out

An elite young sportsman scored a spot on the Australian Olympic Team but a shocking accident means he’ll be watching from the sidelines. VIDEO, PHOTOS.

After three years of hard work gymnast Blake Rutherford achieved the goal set by his 13-year-old self, scoring a spot on the Australian Olympic Team.

But a horror training accident and surgery will have him cheering from the sidelines.

With the “overwhelming” support of his friends, family and team – he’s now on the road to recovery.

Last month Blake, 27, was training for upcoming national championships in Brisbane, practising a routine he’d done more than 100 times before when things went awry.

“Training, at this point in time, was going the best it probably has in 12 months, I was jumping through the roof, my skills were looking lovely, routines were going the way we wanted.

“That night I was going for a skill that has a one and a half twist in the first somersault and then half a twist on the way out.

“I just got lost in the first one and a half twist, which never really happens for me, but I just got lost and kicked out where I normally would feel and just landed on my head.”

As a result of the fall Blake sustained fractures to his C5 and C6 vertebrae and compression to the disc between C6 and C7 in his neck.

Blake Rutherford underwent surgery to remove the bulging disc and have it replaced with a cage.

The injury meant there was risk of compromising his spinal column, with Blake undergoing an operation to remove the bulging disc and have it replaced with a cage.

“I just thought I’d done ligaments, so six weeks recovery I can still prepare for the games,” he said.

“I got up off the trampoline because I didn’t think it was that bad, I walked to a mat and laid down and then things started to feel worse.

“It wasn’t until I got my CT and they said I had fractures there was the initial ‘this is it, this is the end’ set in.”

Blake spent about four days in hospital post-surgery before being discharged on May 6.

Just a week later Blake received the news he’d earned a spot on the Australian Olympic Team.

“There was a few tears, there were tears of happiness but disappointment,” he said.

“Coming from now knowing I made a spot I’m really proud, there’s a lot of pride in that.

“I knew that if I had more preparation from nationals, the way things were going, I could have got named for the Olympics which has been my dream since I was 13.

“But then there was the emotion side where after two and a half years of hard work and endless hours, not just from me but the team behind me, that I can’t fulfil that. But at least someone from our country gets to represent Australia … I’ll make sure I pass on my support to the person who goes away and I’ll sit and watch the trampoline events from home.”

Blake Rutherford and his coach Jarrod Heriot.

As he recovers Blake will undergo physical therapy, but more of his recovery will happen once his neck brace is removed.

“I have physio and that will get me on the right track, but there’s not really much else we can do at this point, it’s just strengthening the ligaments back up,” he said.

“In three weeks time this (the neck brace) will disappear and then it will be doing mobility work through my shoulders and neck.”

Blake said doctors had limited “pretty quickly” when he would be able to get back on the trampoline to three months at the very least, but said he was unsure if he would again.

“If it (a similar accident) happened again it would be a lot worse, but the minimum they’ve given me is three months, so I won’t step back onto a trampoline until after the Olympic Games,” he said.

Blake Rutherford earned a spot on the Australian Olympic Team for Trampolining but a horror training accident will have him cheering on his teammates from home.

“Sportwise, I don’t know where I’m going I don’t know if I’ll be allowed back, so my life might now be leading more into a working, family, house kind of life and that makes me really excited.”

Blake said he wouldn’t be where he is without the support of his family, friends, coach and the rest of the team who has helped look after him.

“My work have been amazing … on top of that Gymnastics Queensland, Gymnastics Australia, the Queensland Academy of Sport have all helped me with my rehab work and have reached out, it’s been incredible,” he said.

“It’s been overwhelming (the support), there’s people from all over the world who have reached out … the community has been amazing especially my team behind me, my family, my friends … I could not thank everyone enough.”

TRAMPOLINING IN HIS BLOOD

Blake began gymnastics when he was just two-years-old, training at the Rockhampton PCYC for the first 18 years of his life.

He was coached by his mum, and Rockhampton Regional Councillor, Cherie Rutherford and Dad, Michael.

In 2015 he moved to Newcastle to train under the national coach until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where he was the Olympic reserve.

He then came home to Rockhampton until he was convinced to give it all another go, moving to Brisbane to train under Australian coach Jarrod Heriot.

Blake said an average week involved seven sessions on the trampoline for up to two and a half hours each, three gym sessions, an hour of mobility a day and working up to three days a week.

He would also have meetings with a sport psych and nutritionist.

Trampoline Athlete Blake Rutherford. Picture Lachie Millard

“It was pretty full on,” he said.

“There was a little less funding for when I was going through the Gym New South Wales program … but that was basically what I was doing (to prepare for Tokyo).”

Growing up Blake said he wasn’t pressured to take up gymnastics, and actually played a lot of other sports and making representative teams for Rockhampton and Queensland.

But there were a few reasons he stuck with and pursued trampolining.

“I just had the love and the drive to make the Olympics for gymnastics,” he said.

“Looking back at it now, it’s good as a younger athlete because it teaches you about discipline and scheduling, how to train and all those things.

“As I got older it’s challenging, it’s the feeling of freedom, you’re the only person in control, you have a coach but no one else can do anything for you once you start on the trampoline.

“It just feels like flying.”

‘EXTREMELY PROUD’

Blake’s mum Cherie said she and her husband were “extremely proud” of how far Blake had come in his career and what he’d achieved.

“He’s worked at this since he two, it’s been a goal of his for his whole life,” she said.

“It’s amazing to see he earned a sport for Australia and he certainly deserves it.”

Cherie said learning the news of Blake’s injury was “terrifying” and that she and her husband were proud of the progress he was making in his recovery.

Blake Rutherford and his mum Cherie.

“He’s been an absolute champion, he’s just doing everything right and not dwelling on anything,” she said.

“He’s extremely proud of earning the position and devastated he doesn’t get to do the Olympics, but he knows that he’s done a very good to get there.”

She thanked Blake’s coach Jarrod and the staff at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.

“Jarrod has not left Blake’s side since the accident, he’s been an absolute rock for the whole family,” she said.

“The staff at the PA Hospital, from the surgeons right through to the nursing staff, have been truly amazing.”