A former Chinese gymnast paralyzed in an accident at the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York has filed a $1.8 billion lawsuit in U.S. federal court against Time Warner Inc. and the United States Gymnastics Federation, alleging they and others broke promises to care for her afterward.

Sang Lan, former Chinese gymnast paralyzed in an accident at the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York.

Lawyers for Sang Lan filed the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan Thursday.

Sang broke her neck during the warm-up for the women's vault competition. She was paralyzed from the mid-chest down.

The lawsuit said the failure of Time Warner and the gymnastics organization to obtain proper insurance has caused her condition to deteriorate. She has been unable to obtain necessary treatments, the suit said.

Time Warner and a U.S. Gymnastics Federation spokeswoman said they had no immediate comment.

In 2010, 12 years after her fall, Sang Lan revealed on her blog that the accident that put her in a wheelchair for life was not merely a freak accident.

Sang wrote that she changed her motion while making a vault because she saw a coach pulling away a mat.

"The disturbance made me hesitate in doing the action in the air, which led to the tragedy," she wrote, blaming the sponsor's mismanagement and disorder at the gym as the "main causes" of her accident.