German gymnast Nguyen out of Tokyo Olympics with knee injury

Nguyen tore a cruciate ligament in his right knee on his dismount from the rings while training on Thursday in the run-up to the German national championships.

Marcel Nguyen had previously missed the last world championships in Stuttgart in 2019 because of a shoulder operation.

German gymnast Marcel Nguyen, who won Olympic all-around and parallel bars silver in 2012, will miss the Tokyo Olympics and fears his career may be over after injuring his right knee.

Nguyen tore a cruciate ligament in his right knee on his dismount from the rings while training on Thursday in the run-up to the German national championships. He previously had the same injury in 2014 and missed the last world championships in Stuttgart in 2019 because of a shoulder operation.

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The 33-year-old Nguyen said Friday he was left “totally dejected” by his latest setback and feels he may not be able to return for next year's home European championships in Munich either.

"We have to see now how the operation and the rehab go. However, it could be that with this further severe injury, as bitter as it is realistic, my career has now come to an end," he said on the German gymnastics federation website.

Nguyen has three European gold medals, two on the parallel bars and one in the team event.