South Jersey's English Gardner earns Olympic dreams despite major knee injury

In 2006, on her first day of high school in Voorhees, English Gardner was given an assignment: Write down a short-term goal and a long-term goal. Gardner simply drew the iconic Olympic rings on a piece of paper and handed it in.

Ten years later, Gardner, 24, earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic track and field team after running her personal best at the trials in Oregon on July 3. Gardner's performance - 10.74 in the 100-meter dash - made her the fourth-fastest woman in U.S. history.

But her road to Rio was almost derailed in 2008, when Gardner suffered a potentially career-ending knee injury in her junior year at Eastern High School during a flag football game.

Around Thanksgiving that year, Eastern hosted a flag football game to raise money for breast cancer research, and despite her father's advice to sit it out, Gardner couldn't.

"My mom had just recently been diagnosed," Gardner said, "so it hit home for me."

In the stands was former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker, and Gardner family friend, Jeremiah Trotter.

"I told [Gardner's father, Anthony Gardner] not to let her play in the game," Trotter said. "I said she's going to try to make football cuts at track speed and you just can't do that."

Sure enough, one yard short of the end zone, Gardner attempted a spin move, but crumpled to the turf.

"My cleat stayed straight forward, but my body began to turn," she said, "and I heard a big pop."

An MRI of her right knee brought bad news: She had torn two ligaments, as well as the meniscus, the cartilage that cushions the knee joints.

Gardner thought the injury was the equivalent of a broken bone. "You put a cast on it for a couple of months and then you get going again," she said. "I was kind of a knucklehead at the time."

But she needed surgery, a procedure she was told would change her speed and her gait. Gardner would have to teach herself how to walk on her right leg again, let alone run.

She thought about that freshman assignment and her drawing.

"I told my dad it was going to be OK," Gardner said. "I said, 'We got work to do but we're going to get it done.' "

Women are two to six times more likely than men to tear an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), which runs diagonally in the middle of the knee, preventing the shinbone from sliding out in front of the femur. It also stabilizes the knee as it rotates, which is why it's so vulnerable to damage during twisting action.

But Gardner's injury isn't average.

Her sport played another role. As an accomplished sprinter, Gardner had legs that were overly accustomed to running straight ahead.

"When she had to quickly change direction, her muscles and nerves didn't compensate enough to execute the movement," DeLuca said, "causing added stress on her ACL and MCL," the medial collateral ligament, on the inside of the knee.

And don't dismiss genetics: Gardner's brother also tore his ACL, while playing football in high school.

The MCL heals by itself, but the ACL and the meniscus need to be surgically repaired. Gardner was referred to DeLuca, who performs more than 100 ACL reconstructions every year.

DeLuca's toughest task for Gardner's surgery: which graft to use?

"If we take a piece of her own tendon to reconstruct the ACL, which is commonly grafted from the patellar tendon [in front of the knee] or the hamstrings, is that going to slow her up?" DeLuca considered. "In her sport, a hundredth of a second can make a difference between gold and silver medals."

The other option: an allograft, or a tendon taken from a cadaver.

An allograft, however, is not as strong as an athlete's own tissue, so it has a greater re-tear rate. But Gardner and her family accepted the risk and opted for the cadaver tendon.

DeLuca used an Achilles tendon in Gardner's reconstruction, he said, because it's thicker than the alternatives.

The muscles in Gardner's right leg atrophied after she wore a straight-leg brace for more than six months. She needed to learn how to use it again.

Rothman recommended she complete her physical therapy at Eastern, because its medical program had a good record of helping athletes return to competition.

"I give a lot of credit to her high school trainer, Casey Christy," DeLuca said. Christy, a certified trainer, has been the school's head athletic trainer since 1994.

Christy created a competition between Gardner and other athletes who were also recovering from ACL injuries, challenging them to meet recovery goals, and to outpace the others.

"I would lock myself in my room and do extra repetitions at home to the point where I was soaked like I had just done a full workout," Gardner said.

But the sprinter had to learn that she couldn't hurry the process.

"I'm used to doing things fast and immediate," Gardner said, "So for me to have to take my time with my recovery was very frustrating."

Fortunately, she had someone with experience to lean on. Trotter tore both of his ACLs: his left knee at Stephen F. Austin State University, and then his right knee during his brief stint with the Washington Redskins.

"She'd call me and I'd say, 'You have to trust me. I've torn two ACLs, and made it to two [NFL] Pro Bowls after that,'" Trotter said. "'You have to be patient and trust the process.'"

Trotter gave Gardner tips, and showed her how to work a punching bag in the garage when she worried that she was getting out of shape.

"I always laugh and say I know he's a football player," Gardner said, "but he's also a track coach."

After a full year of rehab, Gardner started jogging again.

Lack of confidence was her last, and largest, obstacle.

"Coming off the blocks is such an explosive movement," she said, "and I was scared something else would happen."

She missed a full season of meets but returned to competition in the spring of her senior year. After one of her practices back on the track, she had a groundbreaking moment.

"I realized I needed to overcome my fears and have faith," she said, "and then I wanted to prove everyone wrong and come back faster."

After graduating from Eastern, she went on to compete at the University of Oregon, but left in 2013 when she won a Nike sponsorship to pursue her running career. She barely missed making the 2012 Olympic team, but vowed she wouldn't give up.

The track portion of the Rio Olympic Games begins on Aug. 12. Gardner will be competing in the 100-meter dash and the 400-meter relay.

After this serious of an injury, only 60 percent of athletes return to their previous level of competition, DeLuca said.

"To continue to improve like [Gardner] did, that has to be in the top 1 percent," he said. DeLuca pointed to Adrian Peterson, star running back for the Minnesota Vikings, as "another golden child who came back better."

After Gardner's Olympic trials performance, Trotter said the victory was a validation.

"The first time I saw her run, I told [her father] that she was special," Trotter recalled. "And to see all of her hard work pay off and her dreams come true, I felt like I won that race!"

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