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Harting suffers knee ligament rupture

September 11, 2014

Germany's two-time sportsman of the year and Olympic discus champion Robert Harting has suffered a cruciate ligament rupture to his left knee.

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Robert Harting Leichtathletik EM 2014
Image: Reuters

On Thursday afternoon, Robert Harting posted a picture on his Facebook page of himself in a hospital bed with the words:

"When a world goes down - soviel gekämpft und nun das."

The second half of his message translates to "I've worked so hard and now this" as the 29-year-old's devastating injury comes just days after his victory in the Diamond League in Brussels last Friday.

Harting, who has torn the anterior cruciate ligament and the intra-articular ligament in his left knee, told German newspaper BILD: "I got caught in the ground during running on Tuesday and knew straight away that my ligament was torn. But I also told myself straight away that this wasn't the end for me."

The defending Olympic champion and three time World and two time European champion is one of Germany's leading athletes and was enjoying a good 2014 on the back of his latest European gold medal in Zurich.

Now he faces a six-month layoff and there are question marks as to whether he will be able to defend his title at the 2015 World championships in Beijing.

jh/hc (SID, dpa)