Gladiators star Sharron Davies has bravely shared details of her horror show injury that left her needing nine surgeries.
The 61 year old, who is best remembered for her stint as Amazon on the original ITV version of Gladiators that aired in 1995, spoke of the harrowing ordeal she had to go through on the show, which resulted in her requiring nine operations and even a knee reconstruction.
While participating in the program’s Pyramid Game, the former Olympian, who won a silver medal in swimming at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, sustained a severe knee injury, reports the Daily Star.
Sharron Davies starred as Amazon on the original show of ITV’s Gladiators
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
The objective of the game was for her to prevent contestants from reaching the summit of the 32-foot-high structure, but unfortunately, while attempting to tackle one of them, she suffered a catastrophic fall.
In her 2023 book titled Unfair Play, Sharron vividly recalls the incident, saying, “I was pulling and I pushed the contender off and she fell on top of my leg and snapped all the ligaments on my knee. It did get to a point where a lot of accidents happened. She landed really awkwardly on my leg and it snapped.”
Following her recovery, the courageous athlete was informed by medical professionals that returning to the show would necessitate wearing a leg brace.
However, her hopes were dashed when ITV executives informed her that this would not be possible, effectively ending her journey on the program.
Sharron suffered her injury after falling in the Pyramid Game
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Sharron, with her 90s Gladiators co-stars
(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“I was going to come back in the new series but my physio said to me you need to wear a knee brace but the TV company didn’t want me with a brace so I decided that my knee was more important than the TV show,” she said. “That was my choice.”
Sharron, who won gold at the Commonwealth Games, previously spoke out about the original Gladiators show’s safety, now that it’s returned on BBC.
During an appearance on BBC Breakfast in 2022, she said: “The only thing I think is going to be really testing is health and safety. I think going forward that’s the thing which will be so very different from way back then.”
Sharron spoke out about her catastrophic fall and the health and safety measures which come with the show
(Image: Getty Images)
She also mentioned: “When we first started, things like the 6ft free-fall we used to do without a harness, just fall onto a crash mat. Brilliant if you’re not scared of heights and are aware of rotational falls, but as health and safety came on throughout the years you’ve then got to be attached to a harness. I know some people got seriously injured on that… so I completely understand it. But when you’re trying to invent an exciting, thrilling game and then health and safety step in, which they did on numerous events, it all has to be changed.”
In her book, Sharron described the gruelling work schedule of the 90s show, saying: “We used to record two or three shows in a day and we would start really early in the morning and often finish at 10 o’clock at night”.
You can watch Gladiators every Saturday at 5:50pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
* This article was crafted with the help of an AI engine, which speeds up OK!’s editorial research and applies it to article templates created by journalists in our newsrooms. An OK! editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to okletters@reachplc.com
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