Grace Bullen (25) was an obvious gold medal contender for the European Wrestling Championships in Budapest next week, but has now pulled out of the championship.

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– It is the wear of the ankle and lower leg that is the cause. She’s struggled with that in training lately, and it’s best to take a break now to avoid any surgery, Bullen manager David Garcia tells VG.

There are “loose” ligaments in her ankle, a leg injury that puts her out of action. Garcia explains that the ligaments didn’t smoke.

– It’s a shame, she was clearly a candidate for the medal. It’s extremely unfortunate for Grace who loses a European championship after coming under a lot of pressure last year, the wrestling association’s sporting director Erik Rønstad told VG.

Two gold medals at the European Championships

Bullen has been preparing for the championship in recent weeks with training stints in Georgia and France, but she doesn’t get the chance to defend. 2017 European Championship gold medals and 2020. She also has a silver medal at the European Championships in 2016.

– It’s clear that she thinks it’s sour, but the World Cup this fall is the most important, and of course the Paris Olympics that will come eventually, says Garcia.

Garcia denies that the decadence has anything to do with the ongoing dispute with the leadership of the Norwegian Wrestling Federation. Bullen is now the only senior female wrestler on the national team.

After Swedish-Iranian Fariborz Besarati resigned before starting earlier this yearthe association did not have a coach to offer Bullen.

– I don’t want to say that the association shits in Norwegian women’s wrestling, but they shit in Norwegian top level wrestling, said Bullen NRK on the situation.

The bull is now back in Norway and will eventually start training again. She was also a medal contender at the Oslo World Cup in October, but then smoked spectacularly. Olympic qualification for Tokyo was also a solid downturn for the 25-year-old, who lost his mind in the last seconds.