Paralyzed gymnast to sue for US$100m
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Former gymnast Sang Lan, who was left paralyzed after a fall at the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York, said yesterday that she will travel to the city in June to sue event organizers and an insurance company.
Sang's attorney, Ming Hai, said Sang might demand nearly US$100 million in compensation from organizers AOL Time Warner and the American Gymnastics Association and an American insurance company, reported China News agency yesterday.
"I don't anticipate much from this suit, but I believe in legal justice." Sang told the agency.
Hai said the lawsuit is set to be filed in a federal district court in New York later this month and the trial is expected to begin in June.
If permitted, Sang would not attend the court personally due to her physical difficulties, Hai said.
Sang's legal team consists of United States-born Chinese Hai and other American lawyers, according to Huang Jian, Sang's agent and boyfriend.
Sang broke her neck during a warm-up vault while appearing, aged 17, with the Chinese national team at the Goodwill Games in Uniondale, New York.
She was left paralyzed from the mid-chest down and has used a wheelchair ever since.
Huang said Sang saw a Romanian coach remove a mattress from the landing area when she took off on the fateful jump, which caused her to distort and fall. Sang blamed the organizers for "poor management and bad organization" in her microblog last August.
Huang added that the insurance company, which was not named, owed US$10 million in payments to Sang. Huang claimed the company covered only Sang's medical treatment in the US, doing nothing about other expenses.
