Cecile Landi’s Georgia Gymdogs met with an unexpected setback in their latest gymnastics meet at Kentucky. Lily Smith injured herself during the warmups and was forced to watch from the sidelines.
The Gymdogs edged out the local favorites, the Kentucky Wildcats, by a simple margin of 197.275 – 197.025. Smith was seen using crutches ahead of the meet.
All About the Unexpected Injury of Lily Smith
While there is no exact account of how the gymnast was injured, it is believed that Smith injured herself during warmups, after which she was forced to use crutches and watch from the sidelines as her teammates propelled the Gymdogs to another victory.
Coach Landi refused to explain the exact reasons, but was hopeful that Smith would recover from her injuries.
In her statement to the media after the duel, the former coach of Simone Biles explained, “We just want to be safe and be careful tonight, so resting her. We’ll know more once we get back to Athens.”
The Georgia Gymdogs will be attending the following meets in the subsequent days, before the commencement of the SEC Championships, followed by the much-awaited NCAA Championships:
- Dual with the Missouri Tigers on March 6 in Athens, Georgia
- ‘Elevate The Stage’ Quad Meet with Clemson Tigers, Auburn Tigers, and Pittsburgh Panthers on Women’s Day [March 8] in Huntsville, Alabama
- Dual with the Alabama Crimson Tide on March 13
Landi had previously reacted to Smith’s first Perfect 10 of the season in late January this year.
The gymnast-turned-coach dropped the following two-word reaction on her Instagram story, “So proud.”
Landi is the current co-head coach of the Georgia Gymdogs team. Although she was appointed in April 2024, Landi decided to take up the job only after the 2024 Paris Olympics, her last assignment as the coach of Simone Biles and the US women’s gymnastics squad.
Before joining the Georgia Gymdogs, Landi served as the head coach of the World Champions Center in Springboard, Texas, alongside her husband, Laurent Landi.
The gymnast-turned-coach had joined the WCC in 2017, only a year after Simone Biles cemented herself as a promising gymnast. She experienced the lows of the Tokyo Olympics and was instrumental in getting Biles back on track.
It was under Landi’s leadership that both Biles and Jordan Chiles [who also trained at the World Champions Center] made their mark at the Paris Olympics. Biles won four medals [including three gold medals] to become the most decorated American gymnast of all time.
