DANCING On Ice was plunged into turmoil on Sunday as a nasty injury led to a last minute scramble behind the scenes.
Olympian Greg Rutherford pulled his groin in rehearsals just hours before he was due to take to the ice with partner Vanessa James.
Both the medical and choreography teams were left scrambling to get him ready for showtime, and he came very close to missing the programme altogether.
In an exclusive interview with HOAR, the show’s creative director Dan Whiston said: “Last week the show went to absolute turmoil. A few hours before the live show he injured himself quite badly, so much so I was having emergency meeting with the bosses saying ‘what are we going to do? Is he going to be able to skate?’
“It got so close to the line that the public were actually coming into the studio and sitting down while I was still working with him, testing him, to see if he was going to be fit to skate, alongside our physio Sharon.”
Despite the setback, the pair scored an impressive 31.5 and tied for third place.
The injury is still causing Greg problems though, and he’s having to draw on all his experience to soldier on.
Dan continued: “Luckily our physio is amazing and managed to turn it round so he could perform last week. But it does have a mental effect on you, it does knock you, but he’s an athlete so if anyone is going to get injured Greg knows how to deal with it. He knows how to deal with his body and he knows how to deal with his mind as well. He’s very determined, very focused and we’re very grateful to the team this week.
“So we’re just hoping it doesn’t hold him back in some ways because there’s certain things you can’t do with this injury so we’ve had to choreograph around him almost but he’s still delivering a great routine and won’t let it stand in his way.”
Greg, who has lost 11lbs while taking part on the show, opened up on the niggle yesterday and said his gold medal winning long jump career has taken its toll on his body.
The former field athlete, 37, shared his concerns ahead of this Sunday’s live show and said: “I just hope it doesn’t get any worse”.
Appearing on Alexis Conran & Friends, Greg also opened up about being forced to retire in 2017 due to injuries, which can recur from time to time.
He said: “My body isn’t what it once was anyway.
“And I had to retire due to injuries anyway. So it’s very tough.”
He continued: “And the thing is, you never lose the mindset of what you have.
“So in training and everything else, you’ll always push yourself.
“But the problem is things like this then take place and then you deal with it again, which is less than ideal.”
Alexis asked: “Are you worried it’s going to impact your journey in the show?”
Greg replied: “A little bit, yeah we’ll see, we’re having to push through to this weekend, I’m 100 percent going to be fine for the weekend.
“I just hope it doesn’t get any worse. If it doesn’t get any worse I’ll be fine.”
