Samantha Cerio (born 1996) is now a retired Asian-American gymnast who competed for Auburn University. She was named SEC co-scholar athlete of the year. Her coach was Jeff Graba who once described her as “the heart and soul of the team.” Last year the gymnast broke both of her legs during a Competition when she was performing a handspring double front but fell on a blind landing. During an NCAA regional event at Baton Rouge on April 5, 2019, Cerio was performing her floor routine that would forever put an end to her gymnastic college career.
Samantha Cerio: What Happened To The Gymnast?
Samantha Cerio became J.O. National Bars Champion in 2015 and earned All-SEC honors in 2017 and 2018. After nearly two decades, she announced her retirement in 2019 after suffering a double knee dislocation during a performance.
Quick Facts
Full Name: Samantha Cerio
Nick Name: Samantha
DOB: 1996
Born: Huntersville, North Carolina, United States of America.
Nationality: American
Religion: Christianity
Profession: American gymnast and a student of Aerospace engineering
Age: 23 years old
The Injury
Samantha yelled of pain as she crash-landed at an awkward angle which also caused her legs to buckle. Later, she was admitted to the nearby hospital where the doctor declared that the gymnast broke both of her legs and dislocated both of her knees. Footage of her catastrophic injury went viral. It reached the point where Cerio’s friends and family asked people to stop sharing the video because it forced her to relive the injury that left her unable to walk with assistance for an elongated amount of time.
As a result of the accident, the gymnast started her departure from the sport. The blind landing caused her legs to buckle as she crash landed at an awkward angle and yelled out of pain. Immediately Samantha Cerio was taken to a nearby hospital and the doctor told that both her legs have been broken and knees were dislocated. This tragic incident ended her college career. In agony, she retired from her sports career. Following the incident, the Auburn coach, Jeff Grabs stated that it was difficult to see the accident and also called Samantha a soldier.
“Just to put things in perspective, Dr. Andrews has been taking care of athletes for 45 years, and he said he’d never seen a bilateral knee dislocation in an athlete. So it’s kind of like a 100-year storm. I’ll probably never see it again,” Emblom said.
Cerio’s recovery has shocked doctors, as she has progressed faster than expected. She was able to walk at her college graduation with crutches and months later walked with her father down the aisle at her wedding.
Early Life
Samantha Cerio was born in 1996 in Huntersville, North Carolina, United States of America, she basically belongs to Asian-American ethnicity. She is the daughter of Michael Cerio (Father) and Becky Cerio (Mother). Furthermore, the athlete also has a brother named Dominick Cerio.
The 22-year-old gymnast has completed her schooling from South Iredell High School and she remained a 4-time JO National qualifier with top 10 AA finish in three during her high school.
She later enrolled at Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and completed her graduation. She became JO National Bars Juniors in 2015 and her coaches are Kristie Phillips and Geoff Stafford.
She was a student of Aerospace Engineering at Samuel Ginn College of Engineering at Auburn University. Samantha was pursuing her higher studies at Auburn University.
Husband
The gymnast is known to be dating her longtime Boyfriend Trey Wood for a couple of years until they got married. Trey is in the American Navy. The couple also posted pictures with each other on their respective social media accounts. On Instagram, Cerio has garnered a decent fan following with 27.9+ k followers.
Interesting Facts about Samantha Cerio
- When the accident took place, the audiences were initially amazed into silence but later gave her a standing ovation.
- Sam was carried by paramedics on a stretcher a few moments later.
- Her teammates ended with their second-highest overall score of the season. However, they dropped out on a place in the nationals after finishing 4th in Saturday’s regional final.
- Furthermore, in 2017, Cerio achieved a place at the 2017 NCAA Championships and competed as an individual on bars.
- Later, she represented Auburn at the 2018 NCAA Championships on bars in 2018.
- She marked the second-straight season and reached nationals in the event.
- Moreover, the gymnast also won a share of the bars title at the NCAA Salt Lake City Regional with a 9.9.
- Figure Details: Samantha Cerio height stands at 5 feet 0 inch (155 cm tall).
- The 22-year-old gymnast maintains a powerful, fit, and healthy figure with a bodyweight of 52 kilograms (114 pounds). In fact, she scored a 9.825 in the event at the national meet and won 5 titles in the tournament.
- In her career, Samantha earned several titles like “2017 and 2018 All-SEC”, “2017 and 2018 SEC Academic Honor Roll”, “2016 SEC All-Freshman Team” and “2016 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll”.
- She is married.