Australia's Sally Pearson withdraws from Gold Coast 2018
GOLD COAST: Sally Pearson, Australia's face of the Commonwealth Games, has withdrawn from Gold Coast 2018 because of injury.
The 31-year-old 100m hurdler, regarded as one of the hosts' gold-medal prospects, had been struggling with an Achilles problem.
Announcing her withdrawal, Pearson said she was "gutted, absolutely gutted, tears flowing, almost like grief with a numbness phase and a crying phase".
She added: "Not being able to run for Australia is gut-wrenching."
The Gold Coast native featured in the Games' opening ceremony on Wednesday.
