BEIJING -- Three-time world vault champion Cheng Fei will miss London Olympics because of an Achilles tendon injury.
State television reported Friday the Chinese star, the captain of the gold medal team in Beijing four years ago, had an operation to repair a ruptured Achilles and would miss the Olympics. Her coach, Lu Shanzhen, confirmed on his microblog that Cheng had surgery.
The 24-year-old Cheng was a mainstay of the Chinese team at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. She returned to international competition for the first time in three years last month, winning the vault title at the World Cup in China.
