GREG Rutherford previously admitted that he ‘wasn’t fully prepared’ ahead of the Dancing on Ice final after it was revealed he had to quit the show due to an injury.
The ITV programme was thrown into chaos today after Greg had to pull out of the competition due to a horror fall ruled him out.
Olypian Greg, 38, was due to skate against Ryan Thomas, Miles Nazaire and Adele Roberts tonight in the grand final.
Despite being “the closest ever” final four, the long-jump champ and partner Vanessa James were “destined to win”.
Greg nearly had to pull out of the competition when he hurt his groin, but decided to carry on, and he recently admitted not feeling “fully prepared” for the final.
Speaking about his injury, he said: “I thought I was out of the show at that point, I didn’t think I was (going to be) able to carry on because it was so painful.
“And we’ve been effectively just letting it heal as much as we can, while still pushing.
“I’ve been really, really lucky… (it is) still healing so it still, pulls ever so often (and) feels a bit tight and sore.
“But this is performance-led and I had exactly the same when I was an athlete, I think there’s probably only one major in my career where I felt completely healthy.
“So you expect to have these little niggles and little issues, so you just put your mind to it and push through it.”
He added: I think everybody thinks because, obviously, I’m the athlete (it’s) win at all costs.
“But this is a very different world, for me, this isn’t what I did before as well.
“I’m still learning every day.”
Vanessa confirmed that they had to withdraw from the competition earlier today on Instagram.
Sharing a snap of them both smiling, she wrote: “Unfortunately Greg has sustained a significant injury this morning at rehearsals and won’t be able to perform tonight.
“We are on our way to the hospital for Greg to get examined further and receive the treatment he needs.”
Greg revealed his groin injury back in February, however, he also faced quitting show after horror injury that nearly broke his hip.
Recounting how the accident happened, he told HOAR and other press: “Day one, it had to be bloody day one. We did the masterclass. We’re all hanging out together, having a really good time and doing all these little skills and pushing each other around, just having a good time.
“We started to get probably a little bit overly excitable. Well I did, in particular, and decided that to try and win a race rather than skate, I’d just sprint on my on my toe picks.
“Then, I got a little bit too quick for my legs and absolutely hit the deck like no tomorrow and, I’ll be totally honest, I thought I’d broken my hip.
“It was such a heavy impact and I think it’s going to be shown on the first show how big a hit it was and I had this massive egg form on my hip.
“I showed one of the coaches I just sort of said, ‘Is that normal, is that like a normal ice burn, sort of reaction?’ and they were like, ‘No, no, I think you should go and get that looked at.’
Greg continued: “Thankfully it recovered, but it was just a massive eye-opener straight away.
“But at the moment I did it, I was like, ‘That’s it, that’s my Dancing on Ice finished because it was the the amount of pain.”
Not only that, he also showed fans a huge bruise that formed after practising never before seen trick on the ice during training.
The Dancing On Ice final will air on ITV and ITVX at 6.25pm tonight
