The Summer Olympics have finally begun after a long delay due to the pandemic outbreak last year. The USA Women’s Basketball Team is ready to make its Tokyo 2020 debut hoping to chase another gold medal. Elena Delle Donne won’t be part of the team this time.
The 31-year-old played a key role at the last Olympic Games in Río de Janeiro to help the USA Team winits sixth gold medal in a row and it seemed like she would bemakinga second consecutiveOlympics appearance.
The outlook has changed drastically for Delle Donne, though, as she struggled to spend time in court lately. Unfortunately, she won’t be representing her country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where the USA are heavy favorites to win again.
Elena Delle Donne to miss Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Elena Delle Donne in action at the 2016 Rio Olympics. (Getty)
The Washington Mystics superstar hasn’t made it in time for the Summer Olympics this year. Elena Delle Donne wasn’t called up to the USA Women’s Basketball Team for Tokyo 2020 as she hasn’t fully recovered from her latest back surgery in December 2020.
The Rio 2016 gold medalist played through injury for the Mystics in the 2019 WNBA Finals and has not taken part in a basketball game since then. Following Washington’s triumph, she underwentback surgery in January 2020 andsat out the following season to focus on her recovery while expressing health concerns regarding Covid-19.
After sufferingre-herniation in the back, she went through another procedure. Even though she advanced in her recovery process, Delle Donne couldn’t make it to the beginning of the 2020 WNBA season and there’s no timetable for her return yet. Sadly, she has also missed the Olympics on the way.
