Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå forced to pass on Canberra

One week after the Olympic games have come to an end, mountain bike racers will now gather in Canberra, Australia for another World cup race.

Norway’s Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå announced this week that she has decided to pass on competing; she had crashed repeatedly while practicing on the Olympic race course and obviously had suffered worse injuries than diagnosed on site.

The marathon World Champion says that severe bruises on her hip, ribs and even face still cause too much pain to be competitive in Canberra.

"I had a hard time getting any sleep the last few nights because of all the pain, so before I return to competing I first need to recover from my injuries completely" Dahle said.

Dahle says she will instead fly to Germany for Friedrichshafen’s Eurobike trade show where she will represent the "Multivan Merida Biking Team."