Annemiek van Vleuten out of hospital as recovery continues

Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten, who crashed heavily while leading the Olympic road race on Sunday, is out of hospital with hopes she can return home to the Netherlands by the weekend.

The 33-year-old, who sustained severe concussion and three fractures in her spine, was discharged yesterday and is currently in a hotel in Rio where she is receiving round-the-clock care from medical staff of the Dutch Olympic team.

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Dr Cees Rien van Hoogenband, quoted on NOS.nl, said: “An MRI scan showed there is no further injury. The most important thing is she needs absolute peace at this time.”

Yesterday, van Vleuten tweeted a picture of herself and expressed thanks to those who had sent her messages of support.

Thanks for all the messages. Hard to deal with my disappointment but also proud about our performance #teamNL pic.twitter.com/9uRaRniFV6

— Annemiek van Vleuten (@AvVleuten) August 9, 2016

Chef de Mission Maurits Hendriks, who visited van Vleuten yesterday, said: "On the one hand she is excited about her recovery, but on the other she is deeply disappointed at missing out on a gold medal.
 
“She is working very hard on her recovery,” he added.